abstract: This dissertation examines cultural representations that attend to the environmental and socio-economic dynamics of contemporary water crises. It focuses on a growing, transnational body of “hydronarratives” – work by writers, filmmakers, and artists in the United States, Canada, and the postcolonial Global South that stress the historical centrality of water to capitalism. These hydronarratives reveal the uneven impacts of droughts, floods, water contamination, and sea level rise on communities marginalized along lines of race, class, and ethnicity. In doing so, they challenge narratives of “progress” conventionally associated with colonial, imperialist, and neoliberal forms of capitalism dependent on the large-scale extraction of natural resources. Until recently, there has been little attention paid to the ways in which literary texts and other cultural productions explore the social and ecological dimensions of water resource systems. In its examination of water, this dissertation is methodologically informed by the interdisciplinary field of the energy humanities, which explores oil and other fossil fuels as cultural objects. The hydronarratives examined in this dissertation view water as a cultural object and its extraction and manipulation, as cultural practices. In doing so, they demonstrate the ways in which power, production, and human-induced environmental change intersect to create social and environmental sacrifice zones. This dissertation takes an interdisciplinary environmental humanities approach, drawing on fields such as indigenous studies, political ecology, energy studies, cultural geography, and economic theory. It seeks to establish a productive convergence between environmental justice studies and what might be termed “Anthropocene studies.” Dominant narratives of the Anthropocene tend to describe the human species as a universalized, undifferentiated whole broadly responsible for the global environmental crisis. However, the hydronarratives examined in this dissertation “decolonize” this narrative by accounting for the ways in which colonialism, capitalism, and other exploitative social systems render certain communities more vulnerable to environmental catastrophe than others. By attending to these issues through problem water, this dissertation has significant implications for future research in contemporary, transnational American and postcolonial literary studies, the environmental humanities, and the energy humanities. It demonstrates the potential for a focus on representations of resources in literary texts and other cultural productions to better grasp the inequitable distribution of environmental risk, and instances of resilience on a rapidly changing planet. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2018

Diferente da maioria dos conflitos socioambientais por recursos hídricos e mineração, nos últimos anos, têm surgido casos de conflitos cujas ações de resistência foram pautadas não pelos impactos ambientais gerados pela mineração, mas pela preocupação das populações com os possíveis riscos que geraria o projeto minerador nos seus territórios. Nestes casos, as comunidades se opuseram aos empreendimentos antes da implantação ou início de qualquer atividade da mineradora, ainda que as empresas contassem com licenças ambientais outorgadas pelas autoridades competentes. Para isso, além de atos de resistência, estas populações recorreram à judicialização do conflito com a invocação, entre outros argumentos, do Princípio da Precaução por possíveis graves e irreversíveis danos que o projeto minerador poderia causar sobre os recursos hídricos e os ecossistemas. Tais são os casos do projeto de mineração de fosfato de Anitápolis em Santa Catarina Brasil, e o projeto de mineração de ouro Conga em Cajamarca Peru. Devido à complexidade teórica do Princípio da Precaução, o objetivo deste trabalho é entender qual é a incidência e as implicações da invocação deste princípio no contexto de conflitos socioambientais por recursos hídricos e mineração. Para responder a este objetivo, este trabalho aborda o tema dos riscos e o princípio da precaução, assim como os instrumentos que materializam este princípio nos ordenamentos jurídicos do Brasil e no Peru, e propõe sua articulação teórica com três teorias que nos ajudam a entender a questão dos conflitos socioambientais: a ecologia política, a justiça ambiental e o póscolonialismo/decolonialidade. Através deste quadro analítico este trabalho mostra a conexão entre estas teorias e revela a importância deste tipo de conflitos iniciados pela percepção dos riscos contra projetos mineradores, aos quais denominamos como conflitos socioambientais precautórios. Em base a esta análise, este trabalho aponta os problemas das desigualdades de poder nos conflitos socioambientais por recursos hídricos e mineração, assim como a inclusão de um novo fator de conflitos baseado na percepção dos riscos, que merece especial tratamento pela dificuldade da sua análise. Todos estes elementos são observados nos dois casos de conflitos por recursos hídricos e mineração que são expostos em forma comparativa para revelar a incidência destes fatores e sua similaridade tanto no contexto peruano quanto brasileiro. / Unlike most socio-environmental conflicts over water resources and mining, in recent years there have been several cases of conflicts whose actions of resistance were based not on the environmental impacts generated by mining but on the population\'s concern with the possible risks that the mining project would generate in their territories. In these cases, the communities opposed to the projects prior to their implementation or commencement of any activity by mining company, even if the companies had the required environmental licenses. In addition to acts of resistance, these populations resorted to the judicialisation of the conflict with the invocation, among other arguments, of the Precautionary Principle due to possible serious and irreversible damage that the mining project could cause on water resources and ecosystems. Such are the cases of the Anitápolis phosphate mining project in Santa Catarina - Brazil, and the Conga gold mining project in Cajamarca - Peru. Due to the theoretical complexity of the Precautionary Principle, the objective of this work is to understand the incidence and implications of its invocation in the context of socio-environmental conflicts for water resources and mining. In order to achieve it, this work addresses the topic of risks and the precautionary principle, as well as the instruments that materialize this principle in the legal systems of Brazil and Peru, and proposes its theoretical articulation with three theories that help us to understand the environmental conflicts: political ecology, environmental justice and postcolonialism / decoloniality. This analytical framework shows the connection between these theories and reasserts the relevance of this type of conflicts initiated by the perception of the risks against mining projects, which we call \"social-environmental precautionary conflicts\". Based on this framework, this work points out the problems of power inequalities in socio-environmental conflicts for water resources and mining, as well as the inclusion of a new conflict factor, based on the perception of risks, that deserve special treatment due to its difficult analysis. All these elements are observed in the two cases of water and mining conflicts, that has been exposed comparatively in order to reveal the incidence of these factors and their similarity in both Peruvian and Brazilian contexts.

abstract: Located in Southwest Alaska on the Bering Sea, Bristol Bay covers the area of land and water that lies north of the Alaska Peninsula. The Bristol Bay region consists of more than 40 million acres and is home to approximately 7,400 people of mostly Alaska Native descent. Many Natives still maintain a subsistence lifestyle. The region’s Indigenous inhabitants include Aleuts, Eskimos, and Indians. Bristol Bay’s Indigenous cultures developed around the abundant salmon runs. The Bristol Bay watershed, with its extensive lake and river systems, provides the ideal breeding grounds for all five species of Pacific salmon. As a keystone species, salmon directly or indirectly impact many species in the ecosystem. This dissertation focuses on the ecology and environment, culture, and economy in the Bristol Bay salmon fishery from its beginnings in 1884 until the present. The arrival of Euro-Americans altered the human/salmon relationship as Alaska Natives entered the commercial salmon fishery. The commercial fishery largely marginalized Alaska Natives and they struggle to remain relevant in the fishery. Participation in the subsistence fishery remains strong and allows Bristol Bay Natives to continue their cultural traditions. On a global scale, the sustainable Bristol Bay’s salmon harvest provides over half of the world’s wild sockeye salmon. Salmon cultures once existed throughout the Atlantic and Pacific. With the decline of salmon, few viable salmon cultures remain today. I argue that because of the ecological, cultural, and economic factors, salmon in Bristol Bay deserve protection from competing resource development and other factors that threaten the valuable fishery. The unique ecology of Bristol Bay needs clean water to continue its bountiful production. As a member of the Bristol Bay community, I include my own experiences in the salmon fishery, incorporating “writing from home” as one of my primary methodologies. I also include ethnohistory and oral history methodologies. I conducted interviews with elders in the Bristol Bay community to incorporate Indigenous experiences as Natives faced changes brought on by the commercial salmon fishery. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation History 2019

En grön omställning i svenska hushåll har en avgörande roll för att kunna minska dagens miljöproblem. Miljöproblem har idag individualiserats och ansvaret för att leva ett miljövänligt liv ligger således på individnivå. När miljöproblem individualiseras med ett ökat ansvar hos individen som resultat krävs förutsättningar att kunna leva ett miljövänligare liv, förutsättningar vilka kan variera som resultat av var individen väljer att bo. Det blir komplicerat om en grön omställning inte är anpassad för hela nationen utan enbart en del av den. Studien är en kvalitativ intervjustudie med inriktning kring hur invånare på landsbygden ser på en grön omställning med utgångspunkt i de vanliga omställningsområdena transport, avfall, konsumtion och energi. Materialet från intervjuerna har analyserats med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka hur invånare på landsbygden ser på en grön omställning samt vilka hinder och möjligheter som presenteras. Studiens resultat visar att det inom en del omställningsområden finns goda möjligheter för hushåll på landsbygden att verkställa en grön omställning medan andra omställningar framställs som mer komplicerade. Möjligheten till att verkställa en grön omställning i praktiken framställs olika baserat på omställningsområde och var individen väljer att bo. Studien visar således att förutsättningarna till att verkställa en grön omställning uppfattas olika grundat på om individen bor på landsbygd eller i stad. / A green transition in Swedish households has a crucial role in reducing the current environmental problems. Environmental problems have been individualized and the responsibility for living a more environmental friendly life is thus at the individual level. When environmental problems are individualized with an increased responsibility of the individual as a result, the conditions are required to be able to live a more environmentally friendly life, conditions that vary as a result if where the individual chooses to live. It becomes complicated if a green transition is not adapted för the whole nation but only part of it. The study is a qualitative interview study focusing on how citizens in rural areas opinion on a green transition based on the usual areas of transition, transport, waste, consumption and energy. The material from the interviews has been analyzed with a qualitative content analysis. The purpose of the study has been to examine how the citizens look at a green transition and what obstacles and opportunities are presented. The results of the study shows that there are good opportunities for households in rural areas to implement green transition in certain sectors while other changes are presented as more complicated. The possibility of implementing a green transition in practice is presented differently based on were the individual chooses to live. The study thus shows that the green transition are perceived differently based on whether the individuals lives in rural or urban areas.

This essay examines sanitation workers who work with solid waste management and analyses their ability to create a sustainable livelihood based on livelihood assets and strategies. The study was undertaken in Babati, Tanzania and a qualitative method was applied, consisting of interviews and observations. The main findings were that sanitation workers employed four livelihood strategies, however, only two of these were sustainable and contributed towards a positive livelihood outcome. Multiple stresses were identified, such as low wages, inability to save money, unsafe work conditions, exposure to bacteria and other contaminants and no access to social services. Shocks were identified as work-related injuries resulting in extended time off work, wages being paid out late and sudden illness. This made the sanitation workers terms of employment in Babati almost equivalent to that of waste workers and waste pickers in the informal sector, despite being employed by the local government authorities. As a result, the workers were not able to attain a sustainable livelihood and the livelihood outcome appear to be a vicious cycle of debt and vulnerability. A key characteristic for this study is its examination of Tanzania’s political context and institutional framework as important factors that affect the sanitation workers’ resource base and strategies as well as their exposure to vulnerabilities.

This thesis attempts to disentangle the multilayered interactions between Greater Los Angeles’s history, its built environment, and its inequitable treatment of different peoples, focusing on how transportation in surrounding suburban communities like San Gabriel Valley has developed in relation to the inner city of Los Angeles. Greater Los Angeles contains a long, winding trajectory of transit-based environmental injustices, from the indigenous societies being overtaken by the Spanish missions, to the railroads and streetcars boosting the farmlands and urban growth of Los Angeles, leading into the decline of transit and rise of automobile-oriented suburbia. Within the San Gabriel Valley, the suburban community of El Monte has a varied history in its racialized spatiality and transportation development, rising from a former agricultural hub and to its more recent growth as a vibrant working-class suburb full of minorities. Based on a case study of El Monte’s past and present built environment, this thesis looks at the present situation of El Monte’s downtown district, including a walkthrough of its ongoing downtown revitalization project centered on transit-oriented development around the newly renovated regional bus station. This thesis finds the city of El Monte and Greater Los Angeles’s transit agencies have approached the renewed economic and public interest in transit in disconnected ways, leading to mixed results for its working-class minority populace, but also finds avenues in which the government and the public can cooperatively create more equitable transit-based communities for the future.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis critically analyses collective action processes and outcomes in Community Forestry through the concept of embeddedness. This research focuses on the questions of when people cooperate, how and why collective action emerges and evolves, and what leads or does not lead to equitable outcomes. The thesis makes a fundamental distinction between equality and equity. The research focuses specifically on the Nepalese experience with Community Forestry (CF), which is regarded as one of the most progressive CF programs being implemented in one of the poorest countries in the world. The thesis adopts an integrated research approach involving multiple actors, scales and methods with a focus on local level CF processes and forest users. This study considers the Forest Users Group (FUG) as a unit for analysis. Field work was conducted in three FUGs from the mid-hill region of Nepal over seven months between August 2001 and February 2002. The field research moves downwards to the household level and upward to the district, national and international level actors. It employs a combination of the process analysis and actor oriented approach and qualitative and quantitative methods to understand how CF is being driven, who is driving it and why CF is advancing in a certain direction. The study shows that the emergence, evolution and outcomes of collective action in CF are complex and varied due to specific and changing socio-cultural, economic, political and ecological contexts. Without understanding the complexities, in which peoples’ motivation and collective action are embedded, we cannot explain the emergence and evolution of collective action in CF. This thesis challenges the rational choice tradition and some key points of Common Property Regimes (CPR) theory and highlights the concept of embeddedness in participatory natural resource management. The thesis highlights the problem of decentralised CF policy and the forest bureaucracy. Decentralisation universally imposes a formal democratic system based on equality without acknowledging unequal societies. In Nepal, there has been little reorganisation of the forest bureaucracy. Despite being an international model for community forestry, in Nepal the existing bureaucracy has been unable or unwilling to transfer knowledge to forest users. The thesis concludes by stating the need to avoid the pitfalls of some democratic principles associated with standardisation and formalism. This means transforming bureaucratic norms and ideology. Context is central for the sustainable and equitable management of natural resources. It must be further researched and applied in decision-making if CF is going to achieve its potential to improve the condition of forests and the welfare of rural people.

Environmental factors within communities play a significant role on the health and well-being of residents. These social and physical determinants have a substantial effect on health. This interaction can result in environmental injustices, inequality, and ultimately poor health for residents. The community of Galena Park, Texas, is a predominantly minority community of Hispanic and African-American residents with previously undocumented concerns related to air quality, the built environment, access to healthcare and the food environment. Through participatory engagement with Galena Park residents using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), this research examines the degree to which GIS is an effective tool in illustrating and visualizing environmental and social injustices. Findings from this research suggest that GIS only relays part of the story and is most powerful when the lived experiences of residents are integrated into the analytical process.

Concern about environmental injustice has been driving the recent effort to characterize risks from exposures to air toxics at very fine spatial resolutions. However, few studies seek to understand the potential policy implications of regulating risks at increasingly finer spatial resolutions and the impact of resulting policies on distribution of risks. To address this gap, the broad question for this research is how could the choice of spatial resolution for regulation of risks from toxic air pollutants affect emission controls and the consequences thereof? This research develops a formal model of a hypothetical decision maker choosing emission controls within a risk-based regulatory framework. The model suggests that optimal controls on air toxics emissions vary depending on the spatial resolution chosen to regulate risks; net social costs are non-decreasing as one regulates at finer and finer spatial resolutions. An empirical application of the model using air toxic emission data for Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida demonstrates the sensitivity of optimal emissions to spatial resolution chosen for regulation. The research then investigates the equity implications of regulating at different spatial resolutions with regard to the spatial distribution of cancer risks. The empirical results indicate that regulation at finer spatial resolutions could involve a tradeoff between costs and equitable distribution of risks. For example, at a threshold cancer risk of 100 in a million, regulating at census block level resolution could be twice as costly as regulating at census tract resolution while reducing the maximum individual risk by almost half. Further, regulation at finer spatial resolutions might not address environmental injustice by itself unless such concerns are more explicitly incorporated into emission control decisions. Finally, this research shows that spatial resolution at which air toxics risks are regulated could matter in predictable ways even after taking into account the uncertainties that the decision maker faces.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-204). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.