Quests for Justice and Mechanisms of Suppression in Flint, Michigan

Rutt, Rebecca L.; Bluwstein, Jevgeniy (2017). Quests for Justice and Mechanisms of Suppression in Flint, Michigan. Environmental justice, 10(2), pp. 27-35. Mary Ann Liebert 10.1089/env.2016.0047

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There is widespread acknowledgment of the crisis nature and injustices around water quality and access in Flint since mid-2014. This crisis led to different forms of grassroots activism demanding political accountability, transparency, and redress. However, residents’ experiences and their needs and demands in response to the crisis have been largely ignored. This article explores the mechanisms of suppression at work in obscuring these needs and demands. Specifically, it sheds light on the role of the public sector, the media, and the academic institutions in reproducing these mechanisms of suppression. The article situates the struggles over political accountability within the neoliberalization of public administration and government through emergency management. Capital accumulation can continue and intensifies, whereas emergency management further contributes to suppressing public dissent in the times of crisis via the erosion of political accountability. By illuminating institutionalized mechanisms of suppression of residents’ needs and demands, we argue that the Flint water crisis should also be seen as a crisis of government, journalism, and academia.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Social Anthropology

UniBE Contributor:

Bluwstein, Jevgeniy

Subjects:

900 History > 910 Geography & travel

ISSN:

1939-4071

Publisher:

Mary Ann Liebert

Language:

English

Submitter:

Jevgeniy Bluwstein

Date Deposited:

03 Feb 2023 17:24

Last Modified:

03 Feb 2023 23:27

Publisher DOI:

10.1089/env.2016.0047

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/177738

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/177738

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