Gendered Impacts of Jackpile Uranium Mining on Laguna Pueblo

Citation:

Lorenzo, June. 2019. "Gendered Impacts of Jackpile Uranium Mining on Laguna Pueblo." International Journal of Human Rights Education 3 (1): 1–27.

Author: June Lorenzo

Abstract:

Building on a human rights framework and culturally-based notions of gender and earth, this article examines the Jackpile uranium mining experiences at Laguna Pueblo with a specific view toward impacts on women at the Pueblo. Community members have raised concerns about the environment and human health for years but employing the language of human rights is only very recent. Thirty years after closure of the mine, we have begun to use a human rights lens to analyze what has happened in our community. As an Indigenous woman, attorney, researcher, and scholar from Laguna, I contend that strategies for the community moving forward can be enhanced with human rights considerations, beginning with self-determination. I assert that any such conversation is incomplete without further consideration of the impacts of mining on Indigenous women and the feminine that exists in the lives of Laguna people.

Keywords: Laguna Pueblo, uranium mining, indigenous women and mining

Topics: Environment, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Health, Indigenous, Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2019