Don Unger on Diné Mining Reclamation_JSW podcast

Critical Reclamation: Uranium, Storytelling, and Healing on the Navajo Nation

Just released!... Listen to the latest Journal of the Southwest podcast featuring newly minted History PhD, Don Unger.

https://jsw.arizona.edu/multimedia/podcasts/don-unger-critial-reclamation-uranium-navajo-nation/

 Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Southwest Center, speaks with Don Unger, PhD and environmental historian, about his groundbreaking research on uranium mining reclamation on the Navajo Nation. Unger discusses the ethics of storytelling, the balance between technical and spiritual approaches to healing the land, and his concept of Critical Reclamation Studies, a framework grounded in both Western policy and Navajo cosmology.

Together, they explore the lived realities of land restoration, long drives and “cabin conversations,” and the wisdom of community leaders like Mr. Melvin Yazzie and Mr. Ernest Greyeyes.

This episode opens a window into environmental justice, language, and the ongoing legacy of Cold War uranium mining in the Southwest.

Don Unger is currently an ACE Mellon Humanities postdoctoral fellow with the Great Basin National Heritage Area/ Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area, as part of their Fallout of Fallout – Documenting and Contextualizing the Downwinders Experience in rural Nevada and Utah project.