Page 324 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

298 S. Semken and E. Brandt

Yet since the closure of the Magma Mine in the 1990s, residents are experiencing
some of the consequences commonly reported in displaced people:
land-lessness … joblessness … homelessness … marginalisation … food insecurity …
increased morbidity … loss of access to common property resources; and … community
disarticulation. (Cernea 2000, p. 3662)

We were repeatedly told of marriage breakups, unemployment, lack of food secu-
rity, depression, hopelessness, increased rates of substance abuse, increased
crime, loss of land and homes, and impoverishment after the final closure of the
Magma Mine. Superior not only lost most of its population and economic base
with the loss of the mine; it also lost most of its cultural resources: shops, com-
munity organizations, and events. Older residents still mourn the loss of this
multicultural vibrancy, but remain fiercely loyal to the town and hopeful for its
future. Some community organizations, such as a chamber of commerce, art
league, museum, and Ballet Folklorico, still remain; and Superior still celebrates
many traditional events with parades, dinners, and dances. In the last 2 years,
several new businesses have opened in its downtown, signifying optimism for the
survival of the town.
The leaders of Superior have decided that they never again want to be dependent
upon a single economic engine, and have begun to explore the possibilities of an
artist community and ecotourism, both of which have taken root in and helped to
sustain former mining towns in other parts of Arizona and the southwest USA.
RCM has expressed its support for a more diverse and sustainable economy and has
funded some educational and community-development initiatives, including a
planned historic trail that would link Superior to a nearby state park and a well-used
cross-state hiking trail. Still, a recent poll (Merrill 2007) indicated that most resi-
dents of Superior and neighboring towns strongly endorse development of the
Resolution mine as the surest route to renewed prosperity.
Many Superior residents have expressed opinions that Apache and Yavapai
opposition to the mine project is illegitimate, because the land in question is not
part of their federally designated reservation. Forcibly removed to more distant
parts of Arizona in the nineteenth century, the original inhabitants of the
Superior area are now viewed as outsiders by many residents whose own fami-
lies arrived much later, but who have resided here continuously ever since: “We
don’t tell them [the Apache] what to do. Why do they come here and try to tell
us what to do?”.
It is interesting to note that a majority of the local participants in this dispute
come from underrepresented minority groups that have experienced displacement
and relocation at some point in their histories. Nevertheless, a common misconcep-
tion of many non-Natives is that because the Yavapai and Apache no longer occupy
Oak Flat, and because their continued visits for ceremonial or family purposes are
not readily apparent to townspeople, that the Native Americans had no concern for
the place until RCM showed interest in it; whereupon they saw an economic or
political advantage in opposing the mine project.