Alterity and the Flint Water Crisis - Phenomenological Insights into Social Invisibility

This text develops a novel methodology for social investigation into the Flint (Michigan, USA) water crisis by using classical Husserlian phenomenology as its point of departure. To develop a proper method in a case like this, the author uses as primary data the experiences of the affected community. The text investigates philosophically how a water crisis happens as well as the structures of power responsible. This book grounds contemporary theories of power in a phenomenology of social experience. Key to that grounding is the careful elaboration of subject positions in power structures as partially constitutive of lifeworlds (lebensumwelten) for consciousness. The applied phenomenological tools unravel the central enigma of how a community's concerns and the dictates of power can become so disastrously estranged. This text appeals to researchers and students working not just in phenomenology and philosophy but also to those working in the field of environmental humanities and on social justice issues.

Dr. Mitchell Atkinson III was born in Flint, MI, USA. He holds degrees in philosophy and sociology, including a doctorate awarded by the Polish Academy of Sciences. He teaches philosophy and philosophical writing. He has published work on ontology, musical experience, transhumanism, empathy, Husserl, and other topics. His research interests include prediction and voting behavior, media and social influence, power, dominance, social-theoretic applications of classical phenomenology, expectation, resilience, race, and others. His home is in Warsaw, Poland, with his wife.