Abstract
Using the example of an industrial site in Edmonton, Alberta, this paper argues that industrial ruins represent instantiations of abstract abandonment, a kind of real abstraction that directly articulates to the logic of capital. Drawing from excavations of the industrial ruins of Mill Creek Ravine, one of the first industrial areas in Edmonton, this paper reveals how sites of abstract abandonment congeal critical histories of both abandonment and its afterlives. The history of these ruins, and the communities that emerged after they were abandoned materialize the failures of capitalist fantasies, as well as the sprouts that grow in its cracks.
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Stewart, H.E. Abandonment: The Two Sides of Industrial Decay in Mill Creek Ravine. Int J Histor Archaeol 28, 86–100 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-022-00681-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-022-00681-4