Nourishing Growth and Suffocating Life

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.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Eutrophication, Creeks, Conspiracy, and CitizenshipHistorical Interlude: Boomers, Sooners, and a Conspiracy of Developers1. Tasting Growth and White Supremacy in a “Progressive, Wholesome City”2. Expanding Citizenship and Debating Growth in the 1970s3. Urban Creeks and the Tragedy of a Commons without Community4. Facebook, Stormwater, and Digital Eutrophication5. Planning for Future Water in a Time of MistrustConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

“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 “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 “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