Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life - by Daniel Mains (Paperback)

About the Book

Daniel Mains examines water infrastructure, economic growth, the urban environment, and citizenship in Norman, Oklahoma, to understand why we subsidize economic growth even when it is destructive.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"Focusing on the twinned dynamics of economic growth and destruction, Daniel Mains offers a lively and nuanced understanding of local environmental politics. Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life is a must-read for anyone trying to understand how we arrived at our state of political polarization and environmental futility."--Julie Livingston, author of Self-Devouring Growth: A Planetary Parable as Told from Southern Africa

"In this richly textured study, Daniel Mains presents the city of Norman as a microcosm for wider social, political, and environmental tensions in American society. Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life is a path-breaking addition to the literature on water, infrastructure, and urban citizenship."--Matthew Gandy, author of The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity, and the Urban Imagination

"This is a compelling and thought-provoking examination of the ways in which race, politics, and substantive citizenship have shaped--and continue to shape--access to and perspectives on water infrastructure. It is also a deeply personal reflection on the author's lived experiences in Norman."--Kenna Lang Archer, author of Unruly Waters: A Social and Environmental History of the Brazos River

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.