Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on creative responses to intensifying water crises in the United States,
Hydronarratives explores how narrative and storytelling support environmental justice advocacy in Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities.
Trade Review"These studies should enrich the discussion of how to prepare communities to grapple with energy and climate challenges in an equitable way."—E. Gomezdelcampo,
Choice"
Hydronarratives is, above all, an argument for the urgent need to look for, identify, and produce future-looking stories about a just transition as a key metric to calling this future into being."—Anne Stewart, H-Environment
“Original, well researched, and current.
Hydronarratives is an important contribution to the field of environmental justice and creates a clear connection between artistic imagination—film, museums, photography, sculpture, and literature—and broad social change. Matthew Henry’s book is broadly and impressively grounded in theoretical, journalistic, and political conversations. He deftly demonstrates the connections between these sources and the vital work of reimagining our future.”—David T. Sumner, professor of English and environmental studies at Linfield University
“
Hydronarratives is poised to make a valuable contribution to the field—specifically regarding cultural studies—with its inclusion of contemporary politics and hopeful futures. The discussion of racial capitalism in particular is thoroughly detailed as it pertains to water issues in key U.S. cities and regions. Complicated and controversial works are analyzed with elegance and care throughout.”—Kathryn Cornell Dolan, author of
Cattle Country: Livestock in the Cultural ImaginationTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Storying Water and Justice
1. Decolonizing Drought: Indigenous Collective Continuance in the Lower Colorado River Basin
2. Freedom Dreams for Flint: Imagining a Just Transition beyond Racial Capitalism
3. Extractive Fictions and Post-Extraction Futurisms: Energy, Water, and Environmental Justice in Appalachia
4. On the Wrong Side of the Levee: Sea Level Rise Narratives in the Decade of the Green New Deal
Conclusion: Imagining a Community-Driven Just Transition in Wyoming
Notes
Bibliography
Index
