Poison Fish

Read (or listen) and reflect

Read (or listen) to the short science fiction story "Poison FishLinks to an external site." by Nnedi Okarafor (4 min audio).

Synopsis from "Inside Climate News:"

A character named Udara, for example, lives in a Chicago where the lake water is toxic and scientists genetically engineer fish to glow blue when they swim in polluted waters. Nnedi Okorafor’s story is called “Poison Fish,” but the heart of her piece is the effect polluted water has on society and on Udara herself. Standing on a pier at Rainbow Beach, the site of infamous Chicago race riots that killed 38 people in 1919, Udara thinks about her parents, killed a year ago during a peaceful protest. Chicago is on the brink of a water riot, and Udara’s story addresses the social and racial tensions that underlie the struggle for clean water in her city. The Wall, a barrier more than 150 feet tall and 50 miles long, separates the haves from the have-nots, those who can afford to buy bottled water and those who must drink the polluted lake water, those of white middle class and those of color who live in the slums.

As you read, ask yourself:

What are the toxic worlding at work here? If you were an ethnographer studying this neighborhood, who would you want to interview? What kinds of questions come to mind about the toxic substances? What questions would you ask to help you understand toxic worlding here? Go to the class Slack channel "Poison Fish" and discuss away at your leisure!