I'm Afraid of That Water: A Collaborative Ethnography of a West Virginia Water Crisis

Description

On January 9, 2014, residents across Charleston, West Virginia, awoke to an unusual licorice smell in the air and a similar taste in the public drinking water. That evening residents were informed the tap water in tens of thousands of homes, hundreds of businesses, and dozens of schools and hospitals—the water made available to as many as 300,000 citizens in a nine-county region—had been contaminated with a chemical used for cleaning crushed coal. This book tells a particular set of stories about that chemical spill and its aftermath, an unfolding water crisis that would lead to months, even years, of fear and distrust. It is both oral history and collaborative ethnography, jointly conceptualized, researched, and written by people—more than fifty in all—across various positions in academia and local communities. I'm Afraid of That Water foregrounds the ongoing concerns of West Virginians (and people in comparable situations in places like Flint, Michigan) confronted by the problem of contamination, where thresholds for official safety may be crossed, but a genuine return to normality is elusive. Contents Introduction by Elizabeth Campbell, Brian A. Hoey, and Luke Eric Lassiter Part I. “I’m Afraid of That Water”: A West Virginia Disaster and Water Crisis 1. The Elk River Spill: On Water and Trust by Luke Eric Lassiter 2. Exploring the (Human) Nature of Disaster: Meaning and Context by Brian A. Hoey 3. Toward a Collaborative Ethnography by Luke Eric Lassiter 4. Chemical Spill Encountered by Trish Hatfield Part II. On Place: To Stay or Not to Stay 5. Blues BBQ by Jay Thomas 6. Citizen Response: On Leaving and Staying by Cat Pleska and Joshua Mills 7. In and Out of Appalachia by Emily Mayes Interlude: Exploring the (Human) Nature of Disaster: Impact and Responses by Brian A. Hoey Part III. On Making and Remaking Community 8. Activism and Community by Jim Hatfield 9. WVWaterHistory.com and Producing Digital Resources on a Water Crisis by Gabe Schwartzman 10. What Does a Water Crisis Sound Like? by Laura Harbert Allen 11. Can We Trust the Water System Now? Some Updates by Jim Hatfield Epilogue by Luke Eric Lassiter Afterword by Angie Rosser Acknowledgments Contributors Index