2011 - Keele University
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Geography, Geology and the Environment

Airborne, ash and air

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Posted on 24 June 2011

Adey_Peter  Dr Peter Adey last week gave an invited and headline talk at the Up in the Air workshop at the University of Westminster. Peter gave the paper 'Airborn(e)', which explored the philosophical, historical and aesthetic dimensions of early flight and embodiment. By following the modern experiences of early aviators and the writings of T.E. Lawrence, the paper argued that the advance to flight was formed by a double cry for air: a rallying call for the sky as well as a gasp for breath – an 'aspiration' for a better, purer and accelerated air.

The talk drew on work from Peter's forthcoming book Air in Reaktions new 'Earth' series, which will draw a cultural and political history to air itself. The week also saw the publication of a landmark 'boundary crossing' essay Peter published in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, titled 'An Ash Cloud, Airspace and Environmental Threat', co-authored with colleague Dr Luis Lobo-Guerrero and Ben Anderson (Durham) on the disruptions caused by the volcanic ash cloud last year.

The paper had been fast-tracked into publication given the recent eruptions in May, and argues that it was the societal, political and technological systems that engendered the ash cloud as disruptive. These are vulnerabilities, the paper argues, which are not only external but endemic to liberal life itself.

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