Underflows : queer trans ecologies and river justice
Publication Information
Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2022]
Physical Description
xviii, 289 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm.
Series
KPL social justice collection.
Feminist Technosciences / Rebecca Herzig and Banu Subramaniam, series editors
Summary
"Rivers host vibrant multispecies communities in their waters and along their banks, and, according to queer-trans-feminist river scientist Cleo Woelfle-Erskine, their future vitality requires centering the values of justice, sovereignty, and dynamism. At the intersection of river sciences, queer and trans theory, and environmental justice, Underflows explores river cultures and politics at five sites of water conflict and restoration in California, Oregon, and Washington. Incorporating work with salmon, beaver, and floodplain recovery projects, Woelfle-Erskine weaves narratives about innovative field research practices with an affectively oriented queer and trans focus on love and grief for rivers and fish. Drawing on the idea of underflows-the parts of a river's flow that can't be seen, the underground currents that seep through soil or rise from aquifers through cracks in bedrock-Woelfle-Erskine elucidates the underflows in river cultures, sciences, and politics where Native nations and marginalized communities fight to protect rivers. The result is a deeply moving account of why rivers matter for queer and trans life, offering critical insights that point to innovative ways of doing science that disrupt settler colonialism and new visions for justice in river governance"--
Contents
- Prologue: Ways to live together along rivers
- Introduction: Water's invitation
- Underflow
- Thinking with salmon about water: More-than-human commons and hyporheic imaginaries
- Underflow 2
- Queer x Trans x Feminist ecology: Toward a field praxis
- Underflow 3
- The watershed body: Trans and queer moves in beaver collaboration
- Underflow 4
- Unchartable grief: Scientists grapple with extinction politics
- Underflow 5
- With and for the multitude: Cruising a waterfront with José Esteban Muñoz
- Underflow 6
- Epilogue: Upwelling.