Frontier Dreaming

• In Event: The Master’s Tools: Innovation, Interruption, and Regeneration as Technologies of Whiteness

Abstract

The most heavily controlled state in the country is the state of Nevada. 86% of its lands are managed by the U.S. federal government, an important portion of which falls under the domain of the U.S. Department of Defense. While territorial acquisition is key to the project of settler colonialism, this paper focuses on the atmospherics of America, highlighting the white innovation, interruption, and regeneration necessary for its continuation. In particular, my work looks at the atmosphere through several case studies from an indigenous analytic: from above-ground atomic testing, the expansion of national air-force bases, and rural tensions. The region is a speculative dreamland for nation-state science and technology, operating mostly out-of-sight: on the land and in the air. This paper shows how the dreamland of the settler state and its innovations, interruptions, and regenerations is truly a nightmare, whose terrors are rooted in the elimination of the native and have planetary consequences.

Author

• Kristen Simmons, University of Chicago