'Red Pockets' blends memoir, history and environmental exploration
Published: 24 April 2025
A book by a UofG environmental expert that has been described as a ‘haunting blend of memoir, cultural history and environmental exploration’ is now out.
A book by a UofG environmental expert that has been described as a ‘haunting blend of memoir, cultural history and environmental exploration’ is now out.
In Red Pockets, Alice Mah, Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies, chronicles her ancestral journey from South China to the isles and industry of Scotland where she now lives.
Themes of toxic environments and eco-anxiety are prevalent throughout the book, drawing on Alice’s research at the UofG into environmental devastation, and toxic pollution, with a focus on petrochemical towns in China and Scotland. She also shares reflections from previous research into deindustrialization and shipbuilding.
Following a record year of wildfires, Alice returned to her family’s rice village in South China, and discovers that her ancestors are almost forgotten, and there are no tombs left to sweep. Instead, there are incalculable clan debts to be paid.
Every spring during the Qingming Festival, people return to their home villages in China to sweep the tombs of their ancestors, making offerings of food and incense to prevent them from becoming hungry ghosts that could cause misfortune. Yet for the past century, a time ruptured by war and revolution, many tombs have been left unattended.
As years pass and fires rage on, Alice becomes increasingly troubled by her ancestors’ neglected graves. Her research on pollution gives way to growing eco-anxiety, culminating in a crisis of spiritual belief.
Its focus on environmental themes has led to Red Pockets being named as Geographical Book of the Month.
Prior to joining the UofG, Alice Mah was Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick and Principal Investigator of the European Research Council-funded Starting Grant “Toxic Expertise: Environmental Justice and the Global Petrochemical Industry.”
Her research and teaching contributions focus on toxic pollution and environmental justice; just and sustainable transformations; and anti-colonial ecological alternatives and futures.
Alice Mah will be reading from Red Pockets and signing copies at Glasgow Waterstones (Argyll Street) on 6 May.
First published: 24 April 2025