Framing an Environmental Contamination Curriculum: Power, Positionality, and Intention

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Abstract

This research analyzes a locally developed secondary high school curriculum on the history, cleanup, and health effects of an industrially caused water contamination disaster. This curriculum was developed in the aftermath of a widespread groundwater contamination which affected primarily Latinx neighborhoods in a large Southwestern city and resulted in severe and ongoing health issues, lawsuits, and designation a federal Superfund site. Through curriculum analysis and interviews, this historical case study explicates the processes by which multiple community stakeholders participated in the development of this curriculum. Issues of power, positionality, environmental justice, and the role of schooling are explored.

Author

• Corey J Knox, The University of Arizona