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Green Victimization of Native Americans: Uranium Mining as a Form of Toxic Colonialism and Genocide

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Abstract

Criminological scholarship has explored environmental justice issues in Black communities, such as urban exposure to toxins; yet, this research orientation has not been expanded to include peoples in different locations. In the United States (U.S.), this draws attention to the green victimization of Native Americans. In short, existing criminological research has largely ignored the social, economic, and environmental injustices experienced by Native Americans. This study addresses this research gap by confronting historic and current struggles endured by Native Americans in their resistance to ecocide, genocide, and capitalism by focusing on uranium mining in the Southwest U.S. Research suggests that the majority of uranium mines and mills that ever existed in the U.S. were located on or near tribal lands, and how that circumstance creates an unequitable distribution of ecological harms, while environmental and social injustices for Native Americans have been ignored.

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No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript. The author has no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Correspondence to Averi R. Fegadel.

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Fegadel, A.R. Green Victimization of Native Americans: Uranium Mining as a Form of Toxic Colonialism and Genocide. Crit Crim 31, 489–505 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-022-09679-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-022-09679-0

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