Tara Jo Holmberg, in fulfilling the requirements of the PhD in Environmental Studies at Antioch University’s New England campus, has written and published a dissertation titled It Permeated Everything: A Lived Experience of Slow Violence and Toxicological Disaster.
Disasters that impact an individual are dependent on numerous factors: local to international political dynamics, socioeconomics, geography, educational background, and outside support, among others. Currently, much of the research focuses on disasters of natural origin, acute and large-scale environmental events, emergency management, and the ability of individuals, communities, and societies to prepare for and recover from likely known disasters in their region. However, there is a lack of data about individual experiences through ‘invisible’ anthropogenic disasters, especially those under the umbrella of slow environmental violence.
Through critical phenomenological autoethnography, Holmberg examines an individual experience of a preventable toxicological disaster to identify political, cultural, socioeconomic, and historical forces that precipitated the events beginning in April 2014. These same forces were examined to identify how they sustained a slow, nonchalant response to this anthropogenic disaster in a residential neighborhood. Additionally, personal impacts of slow environmental violence, including those involving health, relationships, property, biophilia, financial, and legal, were examined, as well as the ongoing process of resilience and recovery.
Holmberg is a higher education professional with twenty-one years of experience in teaching, curriculum development, and facilitating professional development at two- and four-year life and environmental sciences colleges. Holmberg mentors faculty professional development facilitators engages in collaborative educational research and supports the implementation of inclusive practices and culturally responsive teaching in STEM and beyond, particularly committed to addressing the needs of students and faculty with disabilities. Holmberg strongly advocates interdisciplinary environmental studies, focusing on the critical nexus of slow environmental violence and environmental justice.
Read and download Holmberg’s dissertation, It Permeated Everything: A Lived Experience of Slow Violence and Toxicological Disaster.
