Queer Times and Chemical Weapons, Suspended in the Gotland Deep

Authors

  • Astrida Neimanis University of Sydney

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.33363

Keywords:

Baltic Sea, chemical weapons, mustard gas, queer time, temporality

Abstract

Following World War II, between 2000 and 10,000 metric tonnes of chemical weapons,mostly mustard gas, were dumped in the Gotland Basin of the Baltic Sea. This articleexplores these dumps as a dense transfer point for many different, sometimes incommensurabletemporalities. Guided by queer theories of nonlinear temporality, I describethese sulphur mustard times as both making and being made by the materialities of thechemicals, their containers, the bodies with which they come into contact and the sea.These knots of temporalities articulate militarisms and environmentalisms in a tangle ofmultiple pasts and possible futures.

Author Biography

  • Astrida Neimanis, University of Sydney

    Astrida Neimanis is a Lecturer in Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney.Address for correspondence: Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney, Sydney2006, Australia.

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Published

2018-06-04

How to Cite

Neimanis, A. (2018). Queer Times and Chemical Weapons, Suspended in the Gotland Deep. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 5(1), 66-78. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.33363