Stewards of the Land by Stevie Ruiz

Stewards of the Land by Stevie Ruiz

The history of the environmental movement—from environmentalism of the nineteenth century to the environmental justice struggles of the late twentieth century—has often been portrayed as a series of efforts led by white environmentalists. In Stewards of the Land, Stevie Ruiz reassesses the movement and reveals that it has always been a multiracial endeavor. From Southern California berry fields to Japanese American concentration camps, from Chinese cooks in national parks to Chicano Civilian Conservation Corps workers, Ruiz traces how the racialized labor and environmental knowledge of Asian migrants and Chicana/o communities built the material foundations of modern environmentalism.

Stewards of the Land argues that environmental justice was never just a reaction to pollution in the 1970s but has a much longer history tied to land theft, labor exploitation, and the everyday struggles of frontline communities to live and work with dignity. Drawing from comparative ethnic studies and archival research and with a commitment to decolonial praxis, Ruiz recovers the stories of those who labored—often invisibly—to build, maintain, and reimagine environmental spaces in the American West.

“A highly original and innovative approach to understanding environmental justice struggles across multiple marginalized communities”—David Naguib Pellow, author of What is Critical Environmental Justice?

Stevie Ruiz is associate professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at California State University, Northridge.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781469693354
ISBN 10	1469693356
Title	Stewards of the Land
Author	Stevie Ruiz
Series	Justice Power And Politics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	The University of North Carolina Press
Year published	2026-04-21
Number of pages	224
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.