more reflections on a white discipline (2021) co-written with tianna bruno
Abstract
Recently, the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Climate Action Task Force set forth to imagine academic knowledge production and sharing beyond the current conference model to address the ecological impacts of large-scale, conventional, in-person conferences. Building on provocations of Pulido’s (2002) paper “Reflections on a White Discipline,” this article seeks to ensure that racial justice is part of that imagining. There is much to be ecologically gained by moving toward smaller regional gatherings and large virtual conferences. Our task, however, is to assess the loss of mentorship, affirmation, and community found at the AAG Annual Meeting that sustains Black, Indigenous, and people of color geographers in the current climate of our discipline. We deploy the term climate for two reasons. First, climate refers to “toxic environments” of home institutions within which geographers of color often teach, research, and write (Mahtani 2014). We call on all geographers to contend with the epistemological, institutional, and individual actions needed to detoxify spaces and places of geography. Second, in pace with Pulido (2002), we argue that knowledge production on the climate crisis is enhanced when geography becomes a safer place for geographers of color. Action taken toward climate justice cannot happen without actions to achieve racial justice.
Keywords: Black geographies, climate, climate justice, Latinx geographies, racial justice
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geographies of environmental racism: capitalism, pollution, and public health in southern california (2021)
Excerpt
Promotoras working with parents of children with asthma would simulate the feeling of chest restriction by having the parents breathe through a straw. Part of the promotoras job was to win over adults with asthma and parents of children with asthma, to ensure their participation in the 12-month program. The promotoras would visit patients’ homes at least once to conduct the initial environmental assessment and have the adults sign an Asthma Action Plan. Sometimes the promotora would do a second home environmental assessment to ensure changes were made that removed home environmental triggers that made it easier to breathe.
As environmental justice scholarship is beginning to observe (See: Bruno and Jepsen 2017) the home environmental assessment recommended by the EPA, and implemented by promotoras in Southern California, is problematic for a number of reasons, two of which I will explore here. First, public health programs that address environmental injustice and racism without holding polluters responsible are downstream solutions. Instead of working to prevent asthma in the community, the promotora program is a band-aid solution to an existing, on-going, and expanding problem created by the state and the Port. Asthma, and other chronic conditions are widespread in Southern California in communities along the I-710 corridor, and certainly promotoras are providing a much-needed, life-saving service. Whereas they are not preventing asthma in the community, they are working to teach patients and parents how to prevent asthma attacks and save lives. Nevertheless, the Port of Long Beach funded these promotora programs precisely as a means to continue, and expand, diesel (and other) pollution in the region.
Second, but relatedly, promotoras are teaching patients and parents to mitigate triggers in their home. Asthma patients live in various housing conditions in communities along the I-710. A few own their homes, but many are renters. Much of the housing along the freeway corridor lacks adequate air filtration to prevent outside pollutants from entering homes. Additionally, the presence of mold and old carpeting that a landlord refuses to replace can harbor asthma triggers despite the best cleaning efforts. Asthma attacks lead to missed school and/or work days, and missed income, which can make the difference between whether one eats or pays the electricity bill. The home visit and environmental assessment are important tools for managing the persistent condition when you already have asthma, however they do nothing to prevent more people from getting asthma and do not address the environmental triggers beyond the confines of the home.
These tools put the burden of asthma entirely on the family, who often has little control or power to change their situation. They also mitigate political will in the community to demand greater accountability by the Port, since the Port is funding public health solutions. The use of these tools works to absolve the Port, and other industry that is responsible for the region’s poor and toxic air quality. They also absolve the state of having to regulate the Port and other corporate polluters more closely, and of its refusal to regulate ultrafine particulate matter. The Clinic, the promotoras, and the tools they use, like the home environmental assessment and asthma action plan, put pressure on families to meticulously manage the air quality of their homes, when the air quality of their larger community environment is unmanageably toxic.
Keywords: asthma action plan, home environmental assessment, global goods movement, promotoras de salud, federally qualified health centers, the state, racial capitalism, testimonio
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Environmental deregulation, spectacular racism, and white nationalism in the trump era (2019) written with laura pulido, tianna bruno, and cassandra galentine
abstract
This article examines the relationship between racism and environmental deregulation in President Trump’s first year in office. We collected data on all environmental events, such as executive actions at the federal level or Trump’s tweets. Likewise, we documented racist events targeting indigenous people, people of color, Muslims, and South Asians or Arabs. We found important differences in how these agendas unfolded: Environmental events were more likely to be concrete actions, whereas racist events were more likely to involve “noisy” rhetoric. The differing forms are not associated with particular levels of harm; rather, they suggest the unanticipated and complex ways in which racism intersects with environmental governance under neoliberal, authoritarian regimes. We argue that Trump’s “spectacular racism,” characterized by sensational visibility, helps obscure the profound deregulation underway. The white nation plays a critical role, as Trump uses spectacular racism to nurture his base, consolidate his power, and implement his agenda. Such an analysis expands how environmental racism is typically conceptualized.
Keywords: environmental deregulation, spectacular racism, Trump, white nation
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