Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Environmental Reproductive Justice: Intersections in an American Indian Community Impacted by Environmental Contamination

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Fundamental Challenges to Global Peace and Security

Abstract

In order to fully understand the impact of contamination on Indigenous communities, this chapter explores how intersectionality has been integral to the development of environmental justice (EJ) and reproductive justice (RJ), and how considering the ways in which these two frameworks then intersect with each other is necessary to more fully explicate how toxicants have threatened the reproduction of human beings and tribal culture. The concept of environmental reproductive justice (ERJ), or ensuring that environmental issues do not interfere with physical or cultural reproduction, involves expanding reproductive justice to include a deeper focus on the environment, and to include the reproduction of language and culture as concerns, in addition to the reproduction of human beings. ERJ also aims to expand the framework of environmental justice to more closely consider the impact of environmental contaminants on physical and cultural reproduction. Through the example of Akwesasne, a Mohawk American Indian community located downstream from industrial sites on the New York/ Canadian border, this paper explores how the concept of ERJ can be utilized to understand the unique situation of American Indian communities who are arguing that justice necessitates going beyond equal protection.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    For a full exploration of how research has impacted Indigenous communities, and the importance of CBPR in this and other research; as well as the broader methods employed in this research, see Hoover (2016, 2017).

  2. 2.

    Jim Ransom, email communication, June 9, 2015.

Bibliography

  • Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment Research Advisory Committee (ATFE RAC). 1997. “Superfund Clean-Up at Akwesasne: A Case Study in Environmental Justice.” International Journal of Contemporary Sociology 34(2): 267–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arquette, Mary, Maxine Cole, Katsi Cook, Brenda LaFrance, Margaret Peters, James Ransom, Elvera Sargent, Vivian Smoke, and Arlene Stairs. 2002. “Holistic Risk-Based Environmental Decision Making: A Native Perspective.” Environmental Health Perspectives 110(S2): 259–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arquette, Mary, Maxine Cole, and the Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment. 2004. “Restoring Our Relationships for the Future.” In The Way of Development, edited by M. Blaser, H. A. Feit, and G. McRae, 332–350. London: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, Michael Mayerfeld. 2009. An Invitation to Environmental Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boswell-Penc, Maia. 2006. Tainted Milk: Breastmilk, Feminisms, and the Politics of Environmental Degradation. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowleg, Lisa. 2012. “The Problem with the Phrase Women and Minorities: Intersectionality—An Important Theoretical Framework for Public Health.” American Journal of Public Health 102(7): 1267–1273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braedley, Susan and Meg Luxton. 2015. “Foreword.” In Precarious Worlds; Contested Geographies of Social Reprodcution. University of Georgia Press, pp. vii–xv.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullard, Robert D. 2000. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, David. 2014. “Speaking at a Community Presentation at the Akwesasne Senior Center,” December 11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chrisler, Joan C. 2014. “A Reproductive Justice Approach to Women’s Health.” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 14(1): 205–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Codru, Neculai, Maria Schymura, Serban Negoita, Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment, Robert Rej, and David Carpenter. 2007. “Diabetes in Relation to Serum Levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Chlorinated Pesticides in Adult Native Americans.” Environmental Health Perspectives 115(10): 1442–1447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, Katsi. 2005. Interview by Joyce Follet. Transcript of Video Recording, October 26 and 27. Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, Sophia Smith Collection. http://www.smith.edu/library/libs/ssc/vof/transcripts/Cook.pdf.

  • ———. 2007. “Environmental Justice: Woman is the First Environment.” In Reproductive Justice Briefing Book; A Primer on Reproductive Justice and Social Change. Edited by SisterSong, pp. 62–63. Found at https://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/courses/fileDL.php?fID=4051.

  • ———. 2008. Interview with Elizabeth Hoover, Syracuse, NY, March 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015. “Critical Contexts: Research to Support Community Environmental Reproductive Health.” Keynote Speech by Katsi Cook at the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute conference at Northeastern University, Boston MA, May 21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denham, Melinda, Lawrence M. Schell, Glenn Deane, Mia V. Gallo, Julia Ravenscroft, Anthony P. DeCaprio, and Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment. 2005. “Relationship of Lead, Mercury, Mirex, Dichlorodphenyldichloroethylene, Hexachlorobenzene and Polychlorinated Biphenyls to Timing of Menarche Among Akwesasne Mohawk Girls.” Pediatrics 115 (2005): e127–e134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Chiro, Giovanna. 2006. “Teaching Urban Ecology: Environmental Studies and the Pedagogy of Intersectionality.” Feminist Teacher 16(2): 98–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2008. “Living Environmentalisms: Coalition Politics, Social Reproduction, and Environmental Justice.” Environmental Politics 17(2): 276–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, E., Syni-An Hwang, Brian Bush, Katsi Cook, and Priscilla Worswick. 1998. “Fish Consumption and Breast Milk PCB Concentrations among Mohawk Women at Akwesasne.” American Journal of Epidemiology 148(2): 164–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallo, Mia V., Julia Ravenscroft, David O. Carpenter, C. Frye, Akwesasne Task Force On The Environment, B. Cook, and Lawrence M. Schell. 2016. “Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Ovulation: Is There a Relationship?” Environmental Research 17(151): 410–418.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gedicks, Al. 1994. The New Resource Wars: Native and Environmental Struggles Against Multinational Corporations. Montreal: Black Rose Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goncharov, Alexey, Richard Haase, Azara Santiago-Rivera, Gayle Morse, Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment, Robert J. McCaffrey, Robert Rej, and David O. Carpenter. 2008. “High Serum PCBs Are Associates with Elevation of Serum Lipids and Cardiovascular Disease in a Native American Population.” Environmental Research 106(2008) 226–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goncharov, Alexey, Robert Rej, Serban Negoita, Maria Schymura, Azara Santiago-Rivera, Gayle Morse, the Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment, and David O. Carpenter. 2009. “Lower Serum Testosterone Associated with Elevated Polychlorinated Biphenyl Concentrations in Native American Men.” Environmental Health Perspectives 117(9): 1454–1460.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grinde, Donald and Bruce Johansen. 1995. Ecocide of Native America. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurr, Barbara. 2011. “Complex Intersections: Reproductive Justice and Native American Women.” Sociology Compass 5/8: 721–735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2014. Reproductive Justice: The Politics of Health Care for Native American Women. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haase, Rf, R. J. McCaffrey; A. L. Santiago-Rivera, G. S. Morse, and A. Tarbell. 2009. “Evidence of an Age-Related Threshold Effect of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) on Neuropsychological Functioning in a Native American Population.” Environmental Research 109(1): 73–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, Donna. 1988. “Situated Knowledge: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” Feminist Studies 1(3): 575–599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, Stuart G., and Barbara L. Harper. 1997. “A Native American Exposure Scenario.” Risk Analysis 17(6): 789–795.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill Collins, Patricia and Sirma Bilge. 2016. Intersectionality. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holifield, Ryan. 2012. “Environmental Justice as Recognition and Participation in Risk Assessment: Negotiating and Translating Health Risk at a Superfund Site in Indian Country.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 102(3): 591–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, Elizabeth. 2013. “Cultural and Health Implications of Fish Advisories in a Native American Community.” Ecological Processes 2(4). https://doi.org/10.1186/2192-1709-2-4.

  • ———. 2016 “We’re Not Going to be Guinea Pigs;” Citizen Science and Environmental Health in a Native American Community.” Journal of Science Communication 15(1). Published online January 21. Available at http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/15/01/JCOM_1501_2016_A05.

  • ———. 2017. The River Is in Us; Fighting Toxics in a Mohawk Community. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, Elizabeth, Katsi Cook, Ron Plain, Kathy Sanchez, Vi Waghiyi, Pamela Miller, Renee Dufault, Caitlin Sislin, and David O. Carpenter. 2012. “Indigenous Peoples of North America: Environmental Exposures and Reproductive Justice.” Environmental Health Perspectives 120(12): 1645–1649.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarding, Lillian Jones. 2011. “Uranium Activities’ Impacts on Lakota Territory.” Indigenous Policy Journal XII. http://www.indigenouspolicy.org/index.php/ipj/article/view/48.

  • Katz, Cindi. 2001. “Vagabond Capitalism and the Necessity of Social Reproduction.” Antipode 33: 709–728.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krook, Lennart and George A. Maylin. 1979. “Industrial Fluoride Pollution: Chronic Fluoride Poisoning in Cornwall Island Cattle.” Cornell Veterinarian 69(S8).

    Google Scholar 

  • LaDuke, Winona. 1999. All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge: South End Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, Jennifer. 2000. “The Indian Health Service and the Sterilization of Native American Women.” American Indian Quarterly 24(3): 400–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald E., and S. Rang. 2007. “Expsoing Canada’s Chemical Valley: An Investigation of Cumulative Air Pollution Emissions in the Sarnia, Ontario Area.” An Ecojustice Report. Available at http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/2007-study.pdf.

  • Mackenzie, C. A., A. Lockridge, and M. Keith. 2005. “Declining Sex Ratio in a First Nation Community.” Environmental Health Perspective 113: 1295–1298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mascarenhas, Michael. 2012. Where the Waters Divide; Neoliberalism, White Privilege, and Environmental Racism in Canada. Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masco, J. 2006. The Nuclear Borderlands. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Pamela K., Viola Waghiyi, Gretchen Welfinger-Smith, Samuel Carter Byrne, Jane Kava, Jesse Gologergen, Lorraine Eckstein, Ronald Scrudato, Jeff Chiarenzelli, David O. Carpenter, and Samarys Seguinot-Medina. 2013. “Community-Based Participatory Research Projects and Policy Engagement to Protect Environmental Health on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.” International Journal of Circumpolar Health 72(1). https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21656.

  • Mohai, Paul, David Pellow, and J. Timmons Roberts. 2009. “Environmental Justice.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 34: 405–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, Joan, Amy Aucompaugh, M. Lawrence Schell, Melinda Denham, Anthony P. DeCaprio, Mia V. Gallo, Julia Ravenscroft, Chin-Cheng Kao, MaryEllen Rougas Hanover, Dawn David, Agnes Jacobs, Alice Tarbell, Priscilla Worswick, and The Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment. 2006. “PCBs and Cognitive Functioning of Mohawk Adolescents.” Neurotoxicology and Teratology 28: 429–445.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Sullivan, Meg Devlin. 2015. “‘More Destruction To These Family Ties’: Native American Women, Child Welfare, and the Solution of Sovereignty.” Journal of Family History 41(1): 19–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ranco, Darren J., Catherine A. O’Neill, Jamie Donatuto, and Barbara L. Harper. 2011. “Environmental Justice, American Indians and the Cultural Dilemma: Developing Environmental Management for Tribal Health and Well-Being.” Environmental Justice 4: 221–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, Loretta. 2007. “What Is Reproductive Justice.” In Reproductive Justice Briefing Book; A Primer on Reproductive Justice and Social Change, pp. 4–5. Found at https://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/courses/fileDL.php?fID=4051.

  • Schell, Lawrence M., and Mia V. Gallo. 2010. “Relationships of Putative Endocrine Disruptors to Human Sexual Maturation and Thyroid Activity in Youth.” Physiology and Behavior 99: 246–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schell, Lawrence M., Mia V. Gallo, and Katsi Cook. 2012. “What’s NOT to Eat—Food Adulteration in the Context of Human Biology.” American Journal of Human Biology 24(2): 139–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schell, Lawrence M., Mia V. Gallo, Anthony P. DeCaprio, Lech A. Hubicki, Melinda Denham, Julia Ravenscroft, and The Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment. 2004. “Thyroid Function in Relation to Burden of PCBs, p,p’- DDE, HCB, Mirex and Lead Among Akwesasne Mohawk Youth: A Preliminary Study.” Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 18: 91–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schell, Lawrence M., Mia V. Gallo, G. Deane, K. Nelder, A. Jacobs, and The Akewasasne Task Force on the Environment. 2014. “Relationship of Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p’-DDE) with Testosterone Levels in Adolescent Males.” Environmental Health Perspectives 122(3): 304–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shotwell, Alexis. 2013. “Aspirational Solidarity as Bioethical Norm: The Case of Reproductive Justice.” International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics 6(1): 103–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarbell, Alice and Mary Arquette. 2000. “Akwesasne: A Native American Community’s Resistance to Cultural and Environmental Damage.” In Reclaiming the Environmental Debate: The Politics of Health in a Toxic Culture, edited by Richard Hofrichter. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2004. “Tribal Superfund Program Needs Clear Direction and Actions to Improve Effectiveness.” Report No. 2004-P-00035.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency. 1991. “Superfund Proposed Plan General Motors Corporation Central Foundry Division.” Meeting transcript. Hogansburg, New York, June 26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voyles, Traci Brynne. 2015. Wastelanding: Legacies of Uranium Mining in Navajo Country. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Whyte, Kyle Powys. 2011. “The Recognition Dimensions of Environmental Justice in Indian Country.” Environmental Justice 4(4): 199–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. “Justice Forward: Tribes, Climate Adaptation and Responsibility.” Climatic Change 120(3): 517–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. “Indigenous Experience, Environmental Justice and Settler Colonialism.” In Nature and Experience: Phenomenology and the Environment, edited by Bryan Bannon, 157–174. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, Patrick. 1999. Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology. London: Cassell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zavella, Patricia. 2016. “Contesting Structural Vulnerability Through Reproductive Justice Activism with Latina Immigrants in California.” North American Dialogue 19(1): 36–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Elizabeth Hoover

Authors
  1. Elizabeth Hoover
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth Hoover .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace, University of Maryland, Baltimore, College Park, MD, USA

    Hoda Mahmoudi

  2. Department of Political Science, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, USA

    Michael H. Allen

  3. The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace, University of Maryland, Baltimore, College Park, MD, USA

    Kate Seaman

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Hoover, E. (2022). Environmental Reproductive Justice: Intersections in an American Indian Community Impacted by Environmental Contamination. In: Mahmoudi, H., Allen, M.H., Seaman, K. (eds) Fundamental Challenges to Global Peace and Security . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79072-1_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation