Paper short abstract:

Toxic flows can leave a landscape uninhabitable resulting in residential relocation programs known as buyouts. Examining three U.S. cases, we consider how commemoration offers an opportunity to recreate community and belonging to a place that no longer physically exists due to contamination.

Paper long abstract:

Categorized as technological disasters, toxins leached into the environment often render landscapes uninhabitable due to the high-risks associated with chronic exposure to toxic chemicals. The flow of toxins across landscapes and waterscapes can trigger a secondary movement; specifically, the relocation of residents and demolition of the built environment through buyout programs. When places are erased from the landscape, commemoration offers the opportunity for displaced residents to remember their former homes and neighbors while processing the associated trauma from displacement. Yet not all commemorative artifacts aid in this healing process. This research examines the lived experience of relocated residents as expressed in commemorative artifacts at various scales—from the individual, to the impacted community, to those beyond community boundaries. Drawing on three cases, each awarded buyouts due to toxic disasters in the United States, we examine the experiences of Treece, Kansas; Times Beach, Missouri; and Ponca City, Oklahoma. Through these three sites, we analyze how each commemorative artifact recreates community and a sense of belonging to a place that no longer exists physically on the landscape while also considering whose narratives are included or ignored and the way in which fault is attributed to responsible entities or social systems.