ABSTRACT
STS’s emphasis on community-based research provides unique value for addressing contemporary climate injustices. This chapter focuses on the politics of public participation in technology design, with particular attention to the removal of locks and dams along the Mississippi River. I emphasize how “upstream engagement,” a well-theorized area in STS, can help government agencies reconstruct their notions of accountability and responsibility to the future. I describe how my undergraduate research lab has formulated a place-based model for engaging local communities in infrastructure redesign. This research explores and aims to remediate histories of dispossession and modes for giving land and power back to native peoples and the broader public. This case illustrates a methodology for how research on climate justice can become community-centered work.
