Spoiling and Sustainability

Technology, Water Insecurity, and Visibility in Arctic Alaska

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2151244
AutoresLaura Eichelberger (0000-0003-2738-5863, National Cancer Institute, autor de correspondencia)
Año2014
Volumen33
Número6
Páginas478-496
Fecha de publicación2014-11-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMedical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0145-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-5882
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01459740.2014.917374
PMID24810479
OpenAlexW2055137965
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas9
Referencias citadas46

One third of households in Alaska Native villages lack running water and sewer services. Historically, this public health need drove policies to improve access to treated water and sanitation. However, despite public health being a stated priority of water infrastructure development, current policies require demonstrated economic sustainability in ways that render suffering from water insecurity invisible. In this article, I situate the introduction of water treatment technologies within the history of domination coproduced with vulnerability. These processes are reflected in local narratives describing the relationships between technology, tradition, and suffering. By drawing attention to the role of the state in creating vulnerability, village leaders are trying to historicize and insert their health concerns into the sustainability conversation using narratives that both fit within and challenge the ideology of sustainability. These narratives are thus central to Iñupiat struggles for visibility

Arctic · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Meteorology · Sustainability · The arctic · Visibility · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Ecology · Environmental Science · Geology · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Oceanography