Handling Heat: A Conversation with Elspeth Oppermann

Abstract

Daniel Dumas’ discussion with critical geographer Elspeth Oppermann begins north of Sydney, in Darwin, Australia’s Top End and Oppermann’s childhood home. Oppermann has developed a novel approach—combining ethnography with thermal physiology—to better understand socio-material and energetic relations between bodies and their environments. From the military to the construction site, “Handling Heat” discusses what it means to work in and on heat in the age of climate change.