Science Inventory

Conceptualizing and capturing outcomes of environmental cleanup at contaminated sites

Citation:

Kiessling, B. AND K. Maxwell. Conceptualizing and capturing outcomes of environmental cleanup at contaminated sites. Environment and Society. Berghahn Journals, Brooklyn, NY, 12(1):164-180, (2021). https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2021.120110

Impact/Purpose:

The purpose of this journal article is to summarize the latest themes in the social science of environmental cleanup research. It draws together environmental management literature with anthropology theories and methods. This review analyzes interdisciplinary literature within the social sciences on outcomes of environmental cleanups at Superfund, brownfield, and other contaminated sites. Through this discussion, it examines the technoscientific practices of how scientists and environmental managers seek to make cleanup outcomes legible and meaningful. The review uncovers a gap in anthropological research, where few studies analyze the outcomes of cleanups. In response to this gap, the review brings environmental management research in conversation with anthropology theories, highlighting ways in which current anthropology can be applied to this area of research. In so doing, the review makes connections with critiques of technoscience, discussions of temporalities and continuities, social struggles, and the Anthropocene. It concludes with implications for environmental management research and identifies areas of opportunity for applying anthropology theories and methods to conceptualizing and evaluating cleanup outcomes.

Description:

Our article analyzes interdisciplinary literature within the social sciences on outcomes of environmental cleanups at Superfund, brownfi eld, and other contaminated sites. By focusing on postre mediation sites and outcomes, we expand the understanding of the sociopolitical life of contaminated sites over time. First, we examine the technoscientifi c practices of how scientists and environmental managers seek to make cleanup outcomes legible and meaningful. Next, we engage with a wider array of literature on pollution/toxicity, uncovering circular temporalities in cleanup processes along with continuities in pollution/toxicity and in political struggle. Finally, we examine the social worlds of postremediation landscapes, drawing attention to how cleanups create new relationships among people, history, and nature. In conclusion, we identify areas of opportunity for these insights to inform the conceptualization and evaluation of cleanup outcomes in ways that better incorporate the complex dynamics of postremediation social worlds.