DRS - How hazardous air pollution is politicized in Southeast Asia

Professor Varrkey's seminar is based on her paper, 'Seasons of the Anthropocene: Politicisation of the haze season in Southeast Asia', which deals with the evolution and politicization of language and meaning in relation to the man-made haze pollution in Southeast Asia.

Over the past three decades, the idea of a new ‘haze season’ has emerged in the public discourse in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, suggesting an acknowledgement of recurring and hazardous air pollution caused by the widespread burning of tropical peatlands. 

In her seminar, Varrkey will discuss the underlying political ecology of the framing of haze as ‘seasonal.’ Through a comprehensive discourse analysis of news media and government/corporate/NGO documents, she will analyses three approaches which attribute meaning and value to haze: 

1. ‘it keeps coming back’
2. ‘it will go away’
3. ‘it is normal’

She argues that political actors use these approaches to 'seasonal' to meet their specific political and ecological objectives. 

Her study highlights the importance of unearthing and interrogating the underlying politics involved in constructing ‘seasons of the Anthropocene’. This is key to determining whether and how societies can build a ‘liveable future’.

About Professor Helena Varkkey

Professor Helena Varkkey is the Prince Claus Chari holder 2025-2027 and an Associate Professor of Environmental Politics at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya. Her areas of expertise include transboundary haze governance in Southeast Asia and global palm oil politics.

At ISS she will be working with the Water, Securitization Anxieties and Border Imaginaries (WASABI) research project.