Premium
Confrontations on Karst: Antibiocide Activism in the O zarks, U nited S tates
Author(s) -
Campbell Brian C.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
culture, agriculture, food and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 2153-9561
pISSN - 2153-9553
DOI - 10.1111/cuag.12056
Subject(s) - battle , subsistence agriculture , ethnography , political science , engineering , archaeology , geography , agriculture
In response to unannounced herbicide spraying on electric line easements, O zark H ighlands' residents confronted their rural electric cooperative and requested they cease; and when that failed, they asked me to produce a documentary film and looked into legal recourse. This paper presents the ethnohistorical and ethnographic research foundation for the applied anthropology project that became the documentary film T he N atural S tate of A merica . This includes exploration of the early 20th‐century battle over chemical cattle dips for tick eradication and late 20th‐century back‐to‐the‐lander activism against U . S . Forest Service herbicide applications and the results of contemporary participant observation with activists combating their electric cooperative's spray program. The concluding discussion emphasizes environmental justice and the relationships between biocide opposition, subsistence strategies, and ecological awareness, highlighting discrepancies and common ground among the three phases of antibiocide activism.