Structural violence and environmental injustice: the case of a US–Mexico border chemical plant

Abstract

As environmental burdens have shifted from the core towards the periphery of the world economic system, transnational environmental injustices have emerged. We examine a case of transnational environmental injustice related to a foreign-owned chemical plant located in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (Mexico), which borders El Paso, Texas (USA). We utilise interview data from former employees, current neighbouring residents, and emergency managers from El Paso and Juárez, as well as Spanish language newspaper articles (1979–2010). To emphasise several aspects of socio-environmental marginality relevant to this case that have been under-examined in the environmental justice literature, we employ Paul Farmer's structural violence lens to draw attention to the importance of global scale, historical processes in shaping local cases; the embodiment of suffering; issues of intentionality; and limits of resistance and agency. This lens enables us to better illuminate and expose the roots of injustice for the purposes of action. It helps us demonstrate how a powerful maquiladora can manipulate labour, regulatory agencies, and local people to achieve its aims while enacting a form of violence on others.

Keywords:

• environmental injustice
• chemical plant
• structural violence
• US–Mexico border
• transnational
• Ciudad Juárez
• Mexico