Pollution and violence are connected in profound and multifarious ways that are complex and often hidden, yet tethered via underlying dynamics that we wish to explore. We will leverage the approaches developed in the ocean memory project for case studies of the Mississippi delta region to elucidate, reveal, and communicate hidden parallels and feedback loops between violence and pollution. A single larger convening combined with continuing online meetings will be used to elucidate hidden histories and linkages to be further examined in educational and community-engaged activities. 

To reveal these hidden phenomena, we will prototype a user-populated atlas of pollution and violence using pilot examples from the focal region. To communicate the hidden, we will also design related classroom content that will be tested in a course taught by proposal lead Eben Gering within the Gulf Coast region in Spring 2024 [HONR 1060 – Water and Sustainability]. This course will facilitate student engagement with the maturation of ideas and perspectives that emerge through the proposed discussions and convening within the grant period (i.e. Fall-Winter 2023), including “hands-on” activities such as populating the nascent atlas with place-based biographies, histories, and/or data. 

This first use-case study of the atlas is intended to bring us closer to a scalable framework for interactive inquiry that engages broader communities, in order to remember and confront historic episodes of violence and catastrophe in ocean and coastal realms.