Dr. Max Liboiron (Michif-settler, they/them) is a Professor in Geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland, where they direct the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR). CLEAR develops feminist and anti-colonial methodologies in the natural sciences that foreground land relations to study plastic pollution. Dr. Liboiron has played leading roles in the establishment of the field of Discard Studies (the social study of waste and wasting), the Global Open Science Hardware Movement (GOSH), and is a figure in feminist science studies, Indigenous science and technology studies, and justice-oriented science methods.

Research

Liboiron, M. & Lepawsky, J. (2022). Discard Studies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Liboiron, M. (2021). Pollution is Colonialism. Duke University Press.

Liboiron, M., Li, R., Earles, E., & Walker, I. (2023). Models of justice evoked in published scientific studies of plastic pollution. FACETS 8: 1-34.

Liboiron, M. & Cotter, R. (2023). Review of participation of Indigenous peoples in plastics pollution governance. Cambridge Prisms: Plastics, e16: 1-24.

Persaud, D., Lepawsky, J. & Liboiron, M. (2019). Viscous Objects: The Uneven Resistances of Repair. Techniques & Culture. Revue semestrielle d’anthropologie des techniques, (72), 126-129.

Liboiron, M., Melvin, J., Richárd, N., Saturno, J., Ammendolia, J., Charron, L., & Mather, C. (2019). Low incidence of plastic ingestion among three fish species significant for human consumption on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 141: 224-248.

Kenny, C., Liboiron, M., Wylie, S. (2019). “Seeing Power with a Flashlight: Making and Doing Politics in Classroom Pedagogy with DIY Open Science Hardware.” Social Studies of Science, 49(1): 3-28.

Liboiron, M., Tironi, M., Calvillo, N. (2018). “Toxic Politics: Acting in a Permanently Polluted World.” Social Studies of Science, 48(3): 331-349.

Liboiron, M. (2018). How Plastic Is a Function of Colonialism. Teen Vogue. December 21.

Liboiron, F., Ammendolia, J., Saturno, J., Melvin, J., Zahara, A., Richárd, N., & Liboiron, M. (2018). A zero percent plastic ingestion rate by silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis) from the south coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 131, 267-275.

Liboiron, M., Ammendolia, J., Winsor, K., Zahara, A., Bradshaw, H., Melvin, J., Mather, C., Dawe, N., Wells, E., Liboiron, F. and Fürst, B. (2017). Equity in Author Order: A Feminist Laboratory’s Approach. Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, 3(2).

McWilliams, M., Liboiron, M., Wiersma, Y. (2017) “Rocky shoreline protocols miss microplastics in marine debris surveys (Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador),” Marine Pollution Bulletin, advanced proof. (pre-print proof here).

Avery-Gomm, S., Provencher, J. F., Liboiron, M., Poon, F. E., & Smith, P. A. (2017). Plastic pollution in the Labrador Sea: An assessment using the seabird northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis as a biological monitoring species. Marine Pollution Bulletin, advanced proof.

Liboiron, M. “Compromised Action: The Case of BabyLegs,” Engaging Science, Technology, Society, 3: 499-527. (Open access)

Wylie, S., Shapiro, N., Liboiron, M. “Making and Doing Politics Through Grassroots Scientific Research on the Energy and Petrochemical Industries,” Engaging Science, Technology, Society, 3: 393-425. (Open access)

Eriksen, M., Liboiron, M., Kiessling, T., Charron, L., Alling, A., Lebreton, L., Richards, H., Roth, B., Ory, N., Hidalgo-Ruz, V., Meerhoff, E., Box., C., Cimmins, A., Theil, M. (2017). “Microplastic sampling with the AVANI trawl compared to two neuston trawls in the Bay of Bengal and South Pacific,” Environmental Pollution, advanced proof.

Sardelis, S., Oester, S., & Liboiron, M. (2017). “Ten strategies to reduce gender inequality at scientific conferences.” Frontiers in Marine Science, 4, 231. (Open access)

Dosemagen, S., Liboiron, M. & Molloy, J., (2017). “Gathering for Open Science Hardware 2016.” Journal of Open Hardware 1(1): 4-6. (Open access)

Liboiron, M., Liboiron, F., Wells, E., Richard, N., Zahara, A., Mather, C., & Murichi, J. (2016). “Low plastic ingestion rate in Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua) from Newfoundland destined for human consumption collected through citizen science methods.”Marine Pollution Bulletin 113(1): 428-437.

Avery-Gomm, S., Valliant, M., Schacter, C. R., Robbins, K. F., Liboiron, M., Daoust, P. Y., … & Jones, I. L. (2016). “A study of wrecked Dovekies (Alle alle) in the western North Atlantic highlights the importance of using standardized methods to quantify plastic ingestion.” Marine Pollution Bulletin, 113(1): 75-80.

Liboiron, M. (2016). “Care and Solidarity Are Conditions for Interventionist Research.” Engaging Science, Technology, Society, (2): 67-72. (Open access)

Liboiron, M. (2016). “Redefining pollution and action: The matter of plastics.” Journal of Material Culture, 21(1): 87-110.

Gray-Cosgrove, C., Liboiron, M., & Lepawsky, J. (2016). “The Challenges of Temporality to Depollution & Remediation.” SAPI ENS. Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment and Society, (8.1). (Open access)

Liboiron, M. (2015). “Disaster Data, Data Activism: Grassroots Responses to Representating of Superstorm Sandy,” Extreme Weather and Global Media. Eds. Diane Negra and Julia Leyda. Routledge.

Pine, K. H., & Liboiron, M. (2015). “The Politics of Measurement and Action.” In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM: 3147-3156.

Morello-Frosch, R., Julia Varshavsky, Max Liboiron, Phil Brown, Julia G. Brody. (2015). “Communicating Results in Post-Belmont Era Biomonitoring Studies: Lessons from Genetics and Neuroimaging Research,” Environmental Research, 136: 363-372.

Liboiron, M. (2014). “The Plastisphere,” The Petroleum Magna. Eds. Marina Zurkow and Valerie Vogrin. Peanut Books.

Liboiron, M. (2013). “Modern Waste as Strategy,” Lo Squaderno: Explorations in Space and Society. Special edition on Garbage & Wastes. No 29. (open access)

Liboiron, M. (2013). “Plasticizers: A Twenty-first Century Miasma,” Accumulation: The Material Politics of Plastics, Eds. Jennifer Gabrys, Gay Hawkins, Mike Michael. Routledge: 22-44.

Liboiron, M. and Wachsmuth, D. (2013). “The Fantasy of Disaster Response: Governance and Social Action During Hurricane Sandy,” Social Text Periscope. (open access)

Superstorm Research Lab (Erin Bergren, Jessica Coffey, Daniel Aldana Cohen, Ned Crowley, Michael Gould- Wartofsky, Liz Koslov, Max Liboiron, Adam Merdjanoff, Alexis, Murphree, Lui Lisa Ng, Shelly Ronen, David Wachsmuth). (2013). A Tale of Two Sandys. White paper.

Liboiron, M., (2012). “Tactics of Waste, Dirt and Discard in the Occupy Movement,” Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest, 11(3-4): 393-401.

Liboiron, M., (2010). “Recycling as a Crisis of Meaning,” Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, Intersections Conference Journal: 1-9. (open access)

Other Contacts

http://maxliboiron.com/