Ever since the closing of the copper mine Hurley, New Mexico has slowly started disappearing back in to the dessert. And, the chemical supersite which was built in the dessert south of the town holds incredibly toxic chemicals used to process copper. Yet, thanks to neoliberalism, Kennecott did not have to responsibly dispose of their waste. However, the site has the potential to spill in to the aquifer, destroy the local environment, and make the surrounding towns uninhabitable for countless generations to follow.
Thus, I wish to examine the history of Hurley, New Mexico as a means to critique both colonialism and capitalist projects which create abandoned and exploited environments on the exploitation of black and brown bodies. Especially, since the many of these abandoned projects can help render entire environments spoiled. Settler colonial projects stripped land from indigenous and POC across the Americas and the world as a means to make them “productive.” In the end, I wish to push back against a logic which exploited my family. A logic which will end up killing the environment, black, and brown bodies.
I hope to use this research as a push off point for my Research proposal for Graduate school. My questions are: How was Hurley, New Mexico founded? When was the open pit mine first opened, and how was it founded? Who lived in Hurley, New Mexico? Who lived in the region during the Spanish conquest and rule? How was the area used during the Spanish and Mexican rule? How was the space used before the mine was opened? I will use these and more questions to answer my seminal question: How were the capitalist ruins of Hurley, New Mexico constructed, and how does this disproportionately affect the environment and marginalized black and brown bodies.
To accomplish this, I will be working with Beth Hoppe to identify pieces which document the region. I will also be identifying readings on aquifers, super sites, toxicity, tbe open-pit mining process, and chemical processes used in the smelting of Copper.
Lopez’s comments:
Carlos, I like the historical approach that you aim to take with this project. I should warn you though that historical approaches could also lead you into a data mine pit. Make sure that you have somewhat strict boundaries with what you aim to look at. In thinking about your work, I thought it might be helpful for you to look at Dorceta Taylor’s book, Toxic Communities. I’m not a big fan of this book, however I think that her chapter that uses internal colonialism to examine environmental racism on the Navajo reservation will be useful to you. You might also want to think about this project as examining the constant exploitation/extraction of natural resources and ruinification of the environment. For instance, you could look at movement of the local economy from copper mining to becoming a Superfund site. With this in mind, you might want to think about setting this up as an environmental or landscape history of Hurley. Lastly, you might want to think about using Gibson Graham’s Post Capitalist Politics. For instance, think about what emerges from the ruins of capitalist extraction in Hurley. Good start. I also want you to think about what kind of project you want to turn in at the of the semester, such as a research paper, podcast, film, etc.