Abstract
ABSTRACT This paper contributes to scholarly conversations about how to (not) define community in community geography (CG). We draw on Annemarie Mol and John Law’s formulation of a fire topology to reflect on CG research spearheaded by a community-based environmental organization concerned with industrial contamination in northeastern Oklahoma. To explore how, where, and why we came together around a multimedia storytelling initiative aligned with the geohumanities, we trace the events and encounters leading to our collaboration. We then closely examine one of the first digital products to emerge out of our relationships and research: a StoryMap detailing the history and environmental impacts of a BF Goodrich tire factory that operated between 1946 and 1986 in Miami, the county seat of Ottawa County, Oklahoma, while also commemorating the labor and lives of people associated with the plant. Our overview of the StoryMap and its creation also commemorates the geographies of the embodied work experiences in building community around the research informing the StoryMap. Our discussion considers the dynamic and sporadic dimensions of our ongoing CG research, celebrating accomplishments and potential for future endeavors without failing to recognize how the quotidian friction of distance, as well as professional commitments, have stymied or slowed—but not stopped—our collaboration. Keywords: collaboration, StoryMap, Superfund site, environmental activism, geohumanities.
Published Version
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