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A Comparative Political Ecology of Exurbia“If That Would Have Happened”: The Moral Imperative of Environmental History

A Comparative Political Ecology of Exurbia: “If That Would Have Happened”: The Moral Imperative... [In 1969, South Carolina state officials announced plans to develop a BASF petrochemical factory near Hilton Head Island. However, local residents—both white and African American—mobilized a national campaign against the factory, eventually resulting in the withdrawal of the plans. Over time, the narrative of “BASF’s defeat” has become an important part of the region’s historiography, often presented as both a symbolic victory of stakeholders defeating special interests, as well as the unique and strong character of local environmental concerns. Importantly, too, the factory’s defeat shifted the regional political economy away from heavy industry toward the kind of exurban development that began on Hilton Head in the 1960s and continues today. In this chapter, we discuss this event and the place in which it occurred—Southern Beaufort County—to consider the role of historiography and narrative in exurban politics. Specifically, we explore discourses that have emerged from the defeat of the BASF factory to understand the way past events shape today’s landscape and normalize the vision and materialization of amenity-based development. Thus, we argue that the often taken-for-granted BASF moral narrative is mobilized as part of a broader discourse that legitimates a pattern of unequal geography on the development landscape of Southern Beaufort County, South Carolina.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Comparative Political Ecology of Exurbia“If That Would Have Happened”: The Moral Imperative of Environmental History

Editors: Taylor, Laura E.; Hurley, Patrick T.
Finewood, Michael H.; Martin, Lou
Springer Journals — May 27, 2016
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17 pages

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
ISBN
978-3-319-29460-5
Pages
179 –196
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-29462-9_8
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[In 1969, South Carolina state officials announced plans to develop a BASF petrochemical factory near Hilton Head Island. However, local residents—both white and African American—mobilized a national campaign against the factory, eventually resulting in the withdrawal of the plans. Over time, the narrative of “BASF’s defeat” has become an important part of the region’s historiography, often presented as both a symbolic victory of stakeholders defeating special interests, as well as the unique and strong character of local environmental concerns. Importantly, too, the factory’s defeat shifted the regional political economy away from heavy industry toward the kind of exurban development that began on Hilton Head in the 1960s and continues today. In this chapter, we discuss this event and the place in which it occurred—Southern Beaufort County—to consider the role of historiography and narrative in exurban politics. Specifically, we explore discourses that have emerged from the defeat of the BASF factory to understand the way past events shape today’s landscape and normalize the vision and materialization of amenity-based development. Thus, we argue that the often taken-for-granted BASF moral narrative is mobilized as part of a broader discourse that legitimates a pattern of unequal geography on the development landscape of Southern Beaufort County, South Carolina.]

Published: May 27, 2016

Keywords: Environmental history; Hilton Head; Moral environmental narrative; Coastal landscape; African American racial politics

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