Hydronarratives: Water, Environmental Justice, and Just Transition by Matthew S. Henry (review)

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Reviewed by:

• Hydronarratives: Water, Environmental Justice, and Just Transition by Matthew S. Henry
• Surabhi Balachander

Matthew S. Henry, Hydronarratives: Water, Environmental Justice, and Just Transition. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2022. 232 pp. Hardcover, $99; paperback, $30; e-book, $30.

In the introduction to Hydronarratives Matthew S. Henry cites historian Christopher Jones's concept of "petromyopia," a term for the "oil-centricity" of the energy humanities (17). To counter it Henry insists upon centering water in the energy and environmental humanities, as well as in just transition frameworks, which are central to his argument. "Water is arguably just as important as fossil fuels to the functioning of the global capitalist system," he writes, which means that to truly achieve an anti-extractivist, sustainable, and socially equitable climate transition, stakeholders must reimagine water as well as oil (3). As a humanist scholar Henry examines such reimaginings in creative works of various forms, seizing upon their narrative potential to argue "that narrative interventions are necessary for a just transition" (6). Henry simultaneously argues for and demonstrates through his analysis the importance of humanistic methods in meeting the twenty-first century's pressing climate challenges.

Henry opens his introduction with an anecdote about the anti-pipeline protests at Standing Rock (where the rallying cry, of course, was "Water Is Life") and in the four chapters, delves into four other recent, well-known, and water-related environmental crises in the United States: in chapter 1, disputes over dwindling Colorado River waters; in chapter 2, the Flint water crisis; in chapter 3, water contamination as a result of coal mining in Appalachia; in chapter 4, the specter of sea level rise and its relationship to proposals for a Green New Deal. The events around which Henry organizes his chapters are almost obvious, but the obviousness is precisely the point: it brings into relief the comparative obscurity and creative potential of associated narrative interventions. "The cultural representations I consider throughout this book," Henry writes, "are not merely diagnostic or critical but also generative," alternate forms of engaging with topics that have perhaps been over-diagnosed (16). "Cultural spaces have long been sites of reflection, refraction, and rupture of dominant narratives and power structures," and thus, the novels, fashion shows, performance pieces, poster designs, and more that [End Page 75] Henry examines here actively reframe dominant narratives about water crises using methods uniquely available to creative forms (6).

To illustrate Henry's methods, I look to chapter 1, "Decolonizing Drought: Indigenous Collective Continuance in the Lower Colorado River Basin," which is focused on the American West. Noting the dominance of western drought narratives like Marc Reisner's Cadillac Desert or Claire Vaye Watkins's Gold Fame Citrus that "[construe] a drought-beset future as primarily harmful to settler society," Henry looks instead to Indigenous reimaginings of the Colorado basin that decolonize drought discourse (36). Objects of study include Leslie Marmon Silko's Gardens in the Dunes, a portion of which fictionalizes the construction of Parker Dam and contrasts Indigenous stewardship practices with the logic of damming, or, as scholar Jane Griffith calls it, "dam/ning," and the Hohokam Pueblo ruins at Phoenix's Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park, where exhibits showcase "an unintentionally critical curatorial approach … that reminds visitors of the city's settler history, the eliminatory water policies that serve as the basis for its existence, and the active presence of Indigenous peoples in central Arizona" (46–47). Henry frames his textual analysis of these objects with history and policy contexts, such as the Gila River Indian Community's threat to withdraw from the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan, deepening the book's interdisciplinary engagement and contemporary urgency.

Henry's other "western section" is the conclusion, where he turns his analysis to his home of Wyoming and just transition narrative projects he has been involved with as a faculty member at the University of Wyoming. This final move to personalize his project lends credence to the community-oriented interventions spotlighted in his analysis and has the effect of suggesting action—creative, pedagogical, or otherwise—to the book's audience of scholars in the American West and beyond. [End Page 76]

Surabhi Balachander University of Michigan...