Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life: Water, Politics, and Infrastructure in Urban Oklahoma
From the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, to declining water levels in the Colorado River, water quality problems in the United States have become increasingly common. In Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life, Daniel Mains argues that all too often subsidizing economic growth has self-destructive consequences for drinking water and stormwater infrastructure. Mains examines the case of Norman, Oklahoma, a liberal college town in one of the reddest states in the country, that is in many ways a microcosm of the nation.

Mains begins with Lake Thunderbird, a reservoir that displaced members of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe and allowed Norman’s population to nearly triple in sixty years. Norman’s growth damaged the quality of water in Lake Thunderbird, causing the city to invest millions of dollars to improve its tap water. Each chapter examines examples of the intersection between self-destructive growth, water, and politics. Mains takes readers on a journey into urban creeks that erode backyards, Facebook battles over stormwater infrastructure, and city council policy debates that veer from water to policing. Taking into consideration how conceptions of community and belonging shape the distribution of resources, Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life explores how cities can achieve water security and sustainable growth in an era of increasing distrust in government and scientific expertise.
 
1146459994
Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life: Water, Politics, and Infrastructure in Urban Oklahoma
From the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, to declining water levels in the Colorado River, water quality problems in the United States have become increasingly common. In Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life, Daniel Mains argues that all too often subsidizing economic growth has self-destructive consequences for drinking water and stormwater infrastructure. Mains examines the case of Norman, Oklahoma, a liberal college town in one of the reddest states in the country, that is in many ways a microcosm of the nation.

Mains begins with Lake Thunderbird, a reservoir that displaced members of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe and allowed Norman’s population to nearly triple in sixty years. Norman’s growth damaged the quality of water in Lake Thunderbird, causing the city to invest millions of dollars to improve its tap water. Each chapter examines examples of the intersection between self-destructive growth, water, and politics. Mains takes readers on a journey into urban creeks that erode backyards, Facebook battles over stormwater infrastructure, and city council policy debates that veer from water to policing. Taking into consideration how conceptions of community and belonging shape the distribution of resources, Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life explores how cities can achieve water security and sustainable growth in an era of increasing distrust in government and scientific expertise.
 
26.95 In Stock
Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life: Water, Politics, and Infrastructure in Urban Oklahoma

Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life: Water, Politics, and Infrastructure in Urban Oklahoma

by Daniel Mains
Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life: Water, Politics, and Infrastructure in Urban Oklahoma

Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life: Water, Politics, and Infrastructure in Urban Oklahoma

by Daniel Mains

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$26.95 
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Overview

From the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, to declining water levels in the Colorado River, water quality problems in the United States have become increasingly common. In Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life, Daniel Mains argues that all too often subsidizing economic growth has self-destructive consequences for drinking water and stormwater infrastructure. Mains examines the case of Norman, Oklahoma, a liberal college town in one of the reddest states in the country, that is in many ways a microcosm of the nation.

Mains begins with Lake Thunderbird, a reservoir that displaced members of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe and allowed Norman’s population to nearly triple in sixty years. Norman’s growth damaged the quality of water in Lake Thunderbird, causing the city to invest millions of dollars to improve its tap water. Each chapter examines examples of the intersection between self-destructive growth, water, and politics. Mains takes readers on a journey into urban creeks that erode backyards, Facebook battles over stormwater infrastructure, and city council policy debates that veer from water to policing. Taking into consideration how conceptions of community and belonging shape the distribution of resources, Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life explores how cities can achieve water security and sustainable growth in an era of increasing distrust in government and scientific expertise.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781496240194
Publisher: UNP - Bison Books
Publication date: 10/01/2025
Pages: 232
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Daniel Mains is Wick Cary Professor of Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of Under Construction: Technologies of Development in Urban Ethiopia and Hope Is Cut: Youth, Unemployment, and the Future in Urban Ethiopia.
 

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Eutrophication, Creeks, Conspiracy, and Citizenship
Historical Interlude: Boomers, Sooners, and a Conspiracy of Developers
1. Tasting Growth and White Supremacy in a “Progressive, Wholesome City”
2. Expanding Citizenship and Debating Growth in the 1970s
3. Urban Creeks and the Tragedy of a Commons without Community
4. Facebook, Stormwater, and Digital Eutrophication
5. Planning for Future Water in a Time of Mistrust
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
 
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