Unearthing Lead: The Power of Historical Maps – (Video)

This dissertation examines community air monitoring as a practice of environmental justice in late industrial California. Drawing on multi-year ethnographic research in Southern California, it analyzes how residents, scientists, and regulators use low-cost sensors to produce evidence of air pollution. The study shows how community-generated data reshapes political claims, governance, and understandings of responsibility in environmental justice struggles, highlighting both possibilities and limitations of participatory science for equitable change outcomes.