No abstract

No abstract

In Fractivism: Corporate Bodies and Chemical Bonds, Sara Ann Wylie describes "corporate bodies" as "those networked and peopled, physical and environmental assemblages that are presently creating the global oil and gas industry" (13). The destructive consequences of such industries produce what Wylie calls "chemical bonds" between communities and the industries where bodies, DNAs, and overall health become sites of intersectional knowledge production. Wylie explores this embodied power dynamic in this methodologically interdisciplinary book, unwinding the infrastructure of environmentally destructive industries that induce health issues such as asthma, internal bleeding, miscarriages, and neurological problems. Wylie's book powerfully calls attention to the ways in which the production of industry data gaps purposefully obscures the environmental health consequences caused by fracking. Unable to be viewed or analyzed by the public, data about the communities most affected by fossil fuel extraction becomes unstudiable. A social and environmental justice praxis that seeks to interrogate and redress this absence of data hence creates and inserts interdisciplinary knowledge kept subjugated by powerful oil and gas interests. This is the project of Fractivism. A social justice intervention in data production, Fractivism gives detailed examples and models for researchers, academics, activists, students, and community members to follow as methods for creating sites of knowledge sharing. Through collaborative and open digital platforms, harmful and deadly "chemical bonds" that are born out of extractive geographies can be dismembered through coalitional knowledge production across disciplines.

No abstract

A discussion facilitated by Jason Magabo Perez, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at California State University (CSU), San Marcos. Featuring commentary and analysis of the statements of solidarity curated by Natchee Blu Barnd included in this issue.