What Is a River? The Chicago River as Hyperobject
Matt Edgeworth, Jeff Benjamin
Chapter from the book: Kelly, J et al. 2017. Rivers of the Anthropocene.
Chapter from the book: Kelly, J et al. 2017. Rivers of the Anthropocene.
In the final essay of the volume, “What is a River?: The Chicago River as Hyperobject,” Matt Edgeworth uses a phenomenological approach to examine the massive transformation of the Chicago River. For the past two centuries, humans have reworked the flows of river to such an extent that it has become a “hyperobject” – a concept developed by Tim Morton. Edgeworth describes the Chicago river as a thing that has become “large and multifaceted and spread out through time [with facets that are] hidden and inaccessible, phasing in and out of human awareness”
Edgeworth M. & Benjamin J. 2017. What Is a River? The Chicago River as Hyperobject. In: Kelly, J et al (eds.), Rivers of the Anthropocene. California: University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.43.l
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Published on Nov. 17, 2017