Narrative and the Making of Contested Landscapes in Postwar American Astronomy
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Mountains of Controversy: Narrative and the Making of Contested Landscapes in Postwar American Astronomy The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Swanner, Leandra Altha. 2013. Mountains of Controversy: Citation Narrative and the Making of Contested Landscapes in Postwar American Astronomy. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Accessed April 17, 2018 4:09:27 PM EDT Citable Link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11156816 This article was downloaded from Harvard University's DASH Terms of Use repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA (Article begins on next page) © 2013– Leandra A. Swanner All rights reserved Dissertation Advisor: Peter Galison Leandra A. Swanner Mountains of Controversy: Narrative and the Making of Contested Landscapes in Postwar American Astronomy Abstract Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, three American astronomical observatories in Arizona and Hawai’i were transformed from scientific research facilities into mountains of controversy. This dissertation examines the histories of conflict between Native, environmentalist, and astronomy communities over telescope construction at Kitt Peak, Mauna Kea, and Mt. Graham from the mid-1970s to the present. I situate each history of conflict within shifting social, cultural, political, and environmental tensions by drawing upon narrative as a category of analysis. Astronomers, environmentalist groups, and the Native communities of the Tohono O’odham Nation, the San Carlos Apaches, and Native Hawaiians deployed competing cultural constructions of the mountains—as an ideal observing site, a “pristine” ecosystem, or a spiritual temple—and these narratives played a pivotal role in the making of contested landscapes in postwar American astronomy. I argue that anti-observatory narratives depicting telescope construction as a threat to the ecological and spiritual integrity of the mountains were historically tethered to the rise of environmental and indigenous rights movements in the United States. Competing narratives about the mountains’ significance were politically mobilized to gain legal and moral standing, and I interrogate the historical production of these narratives to gain insight into the dynamics of power in these controversies. iii By examining the use and consequences of narratives, I establish that the grassroots telescope opposition is representative of a highly influential participant in postwar Big Science: the vocal nonscientific community that objects to scientific practice done in its backyard. Marshaling divergent narratives has profoundly constricted both scientific and religious uses of the mountains, resulting in the loss of telescope projects and the increasing bureaucratization of prayer activities at the summit. Finally, I adapt Peter Galison’s concept of “trading zones” as regions of local coordination between two disparate scientific cultures to encompass the cultural worlds of scientists and nonscientists involved in the observatory debates. Through the social and material exchange of mutually understood concepts, some Native and scientific communities established fruitful communication and collaboration, but I argue that these trading zones have also effectively dissolved and homogenized the distinct cultural identities of both communities. iv Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................... x Preface ........................................................................................................................................... xv Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter Outline .......................................................................................................................... 33 Chapter One ................................................................................................................................... 44 People of the Desert, People of the Stars: Founding Kitt Peak National Observatory ................. 44 The Moral Economy of Postwar Astronomy .............................................................................. 50 A “Permanent Desert Observatory” .......................................................................................... 53 Declaring a Winner: “a scientific elimination contest which left nothing to chance” .............. 58 Moving Mountains: the Tohono O’odham and Shifting Control of Sacred Peaks .................... 60 ‘Walking on Gold’: Federal Indian Policy and the First Tribal Constitution .............................. 69 Meeting With the ‘Long Eyes’ .................................................................................................... 73 “A brilliant plan”: the People of the Desert Visit the People of the Stars ................................ 78 Enter AURA: a Cooperative of Universities for a Cooperative Observatory ............................. 81 ‘A Simple Matter’?: Astronomers’ Narratives of the Kitt Peak Lease Negotiation ................... 84 Deciphering Astronomers’ Narratives: the Making of “a scientific adventure story” .............. 91 Chapter Two ................................................................................................................................... 96 An Aging Observatory and a Sovereign Nation: the changing identities of Kitt Peak National Observatory and the Tohono O’odham ......................................................................................... 96 The Myth of Consensus: O’odham Perspectives on the Lease Negotiations ......................... 101 The Dream of “a million dollars”: An Economic Argument for Signing the Lease .................. 109 Building ‘Astronomy City’ ........................................................................................................ 113 The Rise of ‘Red Power’ ........................................................................................................... 116 A “new era” for the Tohono O’odham Nation ......................................................................... 122 ‘Rumblings’ of Discontent ........................................................................................................ 125 Weaving Cultural Connections: Basket-Making and the KPNO Visitor Center ....................... 128 “An Aging Observatory” ........................................................................................................... 131 Rejecting VERITAS .................................................................................................................... 137 From the Man in the Maze to the Man in the Moon: the KPNO Visitor Center as a Network of Exchange .................................................................................................................................. 155 v Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 163 From a Temple of the Gods to a Temple for the Stars: Colonialism, Environmentalism, and the Making of Mauna Kea International Observatory ....................................................................... 166 The Polynesian mystique ......................................................................................................... 171 The ‘Post-contact’ Era .............................................................................................................. 172 The Overthrow ......................................................................................................................... 175 The Commodification of the Mauna ........................................................................................ 177 Making a Mauna for astronomy .............................................................................................. 180 ‘Piecemeal’ telescopes ............................................................................................................. 184 Astronomers Meet the Public .................................................................................................. 187 Astronomy and the rise of American environmentalism......................................................... 190 Small bugs, Big Problems ......................................................................................................... 192 Plans based on Plans: the 1983 Complex Development Plan ................................................. 194 Auditing the Astronomers ........................................................................................................ 198 A Master Plan for Mauna Kea .................................................................................................. 199 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 203 Chapter Four ................................................................................................................................ 204 Collaboration and Conflict: How