Trashing South-Central: Place and Identity in a Community-Level Environmental Justice Dispute
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Southern Communication Journal
Volume
69
Publication Date
2003
First Page
82
Last Page
95
Abstract
Communities involved in conflicts over local‐level environmental issues recognize that who they are and how their neighborhoods are portrayed can greatly influence the outcome of their disputes. In this essay, I explore a community‐level conflict in South‐Central Los Angeles where residents were opposing the construction of a garbage incinerator. I examine the ways that the rhetorics of place and identity were used to alter the siting of the unwanted facility. I find that boundaries between the personal and the public, the home and the community, and the insiders and the outsiders are all reconstructed as stakeholders attempt to reframe the controversy for their benefit. This study expands our knowledge of environmental communication research by examining the construction of place and identity, community activism, and environmental toxins.
Recommended Citation
Peeples, Jennifer. “Trashing South-Central: Place and Identity in a Community-Level Environmental Justice Dispute.” Southern Communication Journal 69 (2003): 82-95.
