In Search of the Emerald City: Life Next to a Kansas Superfund Site

Thaemert, Jaycie

In Search of the Emerald City: Life Next to a Kansas Superfund Site

dc.contributor.advisor	Bessire, Lucas
dc.contributor.author	Thaemert, Jaycie
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Klein, Misha
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Mains, Daniel
dc.date.accessioned	2021-05-20T16:15:52Z
dc.date.available	2021-05-20T16:15:52Z
dc.date.issued	2021-05-14
dc.date.manuscript	2021-05-12
dc.description.abstract	This thesis is an ethnographic investigation of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant and the surrounding town of De Soto, Kansas. I argue that the ammunition plant has produced not only embodied impacts in the form of industrial contamination, but also affective experiences which have influenced certain populations’ sense of belonging and self-understanding. The ammunition plant serves as a point from which to view many repressed historical violences within the town, including settler colonial dispossession and land seizure, Ku Klux Klan activity, and weapons production itself. In conducting my research, I drew upon several interconnected methods, including interviews with plant workers and town residents, historical documentation and oral histories, and self-reflection as a resident of the town. I attempt to problematize the notion of “remediating” this toxic land, tying contamination to issues beyond those of land use and redevelopment.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/11244/329631
dc.language	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International	*
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/	*
dc.subject	Anthropology, Cultural.	en_US
dc.subject	Military-Industrial Complex	en_US
dc.subject	Environmental Justice	en_US
dc.thesis.degree	Master of Arts	en_US
dc.title	In Search of the Emerald City: Life Next to a Kansas Superfund Site	en_US
ou.group	College of Arts and Sciences::Department of Anthropology	en_US
shareok.orcid	0000-0003-3571-5252	en_US