Dissertation Research: Perceptions of Racial Inequality and the Social Construction of Environmental Justice

这篇论文的研究项目由文化人类学学生在纽约大学涉及如何最近基层非洲裔美国人的社会运动的环境正义在奥古斯塔，格鲁吉亚占用了主流环境运动的话语，并重新定义为社会正义问题的人种学研究。 对于环境正义活动家来说，“权利”包括获得无毒的空气和水以及住房、学校和工作场所，所有这些都没有种族和阶级歧视。 通过参与观察，当地居民，访谈和档案研究的调查，学生将测试的命题，种族歧视的地方观念占主导地位的阶级或政治作为感知的环境污染的原因。 因此，本项目调查的长期影响，民权运动对非洲裔美国人在这个代表性的当地南方社区。 它将通过展示言论和问题如何跨越社会界限，激发对环境问题的行动，促进我们对当代民间社会和基层运动的理解。

This dissertation research project by a cultural anthropology student at New York University involves an ethnographic study of how a recent grassroots African-American social movement for environmental justice in Augusta, Georgia has appropriated the discourse of the mainstream environmental movement and redefined it as issues of social justice. For environmental justice activists, `rights` includes access to toxin-free air and water as well as housing, schools and workplaces, all free of race and class discrimination. Through participant observation, a survey of local residents, interviews and archival research the student will test the proposition that local perceptions of racial discrimination are dominant over class or politics as perceived causes of environmental pollution. This project thus investigates the long-term impact of the civil rights movement on African Americans in this representative local Southern community. It will advance our understanding of contemporary civil society and grassroots movements by showing how rhetoric and issues flow across social lines to galvanize action on environmental issues.