Landscapes of Power
https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.4/coal-environmental-victories-dont-guarantee-economic-justice-navajo-generating-station
Above is a link to an article which provides some background information pertaining to the construction and recent decommissioning of the Navajo Generating Station near the town of Page, Arizona. This factory, situated on Navajo Nation lands, generated energy from nearby coal mines from its opening in 1976 until its closure in November 2019. While it was in operation, the station provided nearly 900 jobs for local citizens, many of whom are indigenous people. In addition to the factory, the local economy is also supported by the presence of the Antelope Canyons: a series of carved sandstone canyons which draw thousands of tourists to the area each year to witness their unique beauty. When I visited Page this past December, I was struck by the tension between these two economic ventures as they were inscribed in the local landscape. On the one hand, people were eager to ‘consume’ the canyons by embarking on guided tours which afforded desirable photo opportunities. On the other, the generating station stood out as a seemingly unsightly intervention within an otherwise idyllic landscape. Yet as time passed, I found myself somewhat transfixed by the physical enormity and symbolic power of the station, as one Google review of the station reads, “Love it. Can’t stop staring at it, even from miles away. Wish they gave tours.”
With regards to some of the ideas proposed by actor-network theory, I think it is relevant to first consider how the Navajo Generating Station is nested within broader forms of relation: namely with local community members, visitors, corporate actors, and resources. A good deal commentary has noted the paradox of infrastructural land use in the American Southwest, whereby historically subjugated Native Americans have been forced to build their livelihoods upon some of most resource-rich lands within American national territory (Dana Powell’s 2018 ethnography Landscapes of Power: Politics of Energy in the Navajo Nation is an excellent resource here). When it was in operation, the generating station served as a key energy supplier to nearby megacities of Phoenix and Los Angeles, as well as the lesser Las Vegas (though a formidable energy consumer in its own right). Electricity is a fascinating phenomenon to consider. While it is utterly indispensable to the performance of many vital daily activities, seldom do we question where (geographically, materially) it has come from. ANT invites the possibility to reflect on the way in which a development such as the generating station is not merely situated in one place and time, but indeed in a multiplicity of contexts insofar as it ‘kept the lights on’ elsewhere. With the recent decommissioning of this site, the station is beginning to acquire the status of a relic as it enters its afterlife. However, as I observed while I was in Page, this does not mean that the structure will become something inert. ANT calls for the consideration of more-than-merely-human things and beings as actors alongside human actors. Indeed, the generating station seemed to carry its own presence, most obviously in a visual capacity, as it stood watch over the area. Just as human actors invariably change, so too will this development undergo dynamic transformation as it transitions from its status as a source of power provision to that of a monumental remnant of what once was.
I want to conclude by offering some brief thoughts pertaining to Schwenkel’s article on the spectacle of infrastructure. As I mentioned, one of the main economic draws to this region is facilitated by photo tourism. While this practice primarily takes place with regard to the Antelope Canyons, I would argue that the Navajo Generating Station constitutes an additional component of the overall spectacle that is instantiated here. While being led on a tour, our guide referred to the station with a tone of reverence, remarking on the fact that the tallest structure in the Southwest, comparable to a structure like the iconic Empire State Building. The sight of the station elicited a great deal of curiosity from other tourists, as many snapped photos of the structure from the side of the road. Schwenkel notes how infrastructure is often only viewed explicitly, intentionally, when moments of breakdown or rupture set it out of its ordinary use. This notion seems to ring true here, as the defunct building ‘punctuates’ the landscape as a metonym for past progress (albeit a ‘progress’ built upon the exploitation and coercion of countless others).
Contributed by TyCary on 17/02/2020
