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Beyond risk: Emplacement and the production of environmental evidence
Article first published online: 5 JUL 2011
DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1425.2011.01320.x
© 2011 by the American Anthropological Association
Additional Information
How to Cite
RENO, J. (2011), Beyond risk: Emplacement and the production of environmental evidence. American Ethnologist, 38: 516–530. doi: 10.1111/j.1548-1425.2011.01320.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 5 JUL 2011
- Article first published online: 5 JUL 2011
- accepted February 24, 2011 , final version submitted March 14, 2011
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- [risk;
- evidence;
- place;
- epistemology;
- waste;
- science and technology]
ABSTRACT
I offer a counterpoint to the prevailing risk literature that focuses not on (mis)perceptions of danger but on the production and circulation of different forms of evidence and the environmental claims they promote. Rather than reproduce the epistemic dichotomies associated with risk discourse, I discuss attempts by waste-industry technicians, government inspectors, lawyers, area residents, and activists to generate persuasive accounts of a large, U.S. landfill and its porous boundaries. I argue that the differential influence of their various claims is best understood by examining what it means to know and care for a place.