Disregarded sentiments : discovering the voices of opposition to the Mactaquac Dam

Abstract

The construction of the Mactaquac Dam on the St. John River in New Brunswick, Canada, during the late 1960s generated vocal and, at times, aggressive opposition. Dedicated to the preservation of the heritage, culture and natural beauty of the area, the opposition was deemed “sentimental” — negatively so — by dam-supporters. This thesis explores dam-opponents’ connection to the region’s heritage and culture, and particularly, their connection to the land. The importance of community and individual identities — as defined by history and culture — to environmental activism and oppositional movements is discussed. In addition, this thesis situates the Mactaquac case within broader patterns of water history and identifies the Mactaquac Dam as existing during a period of intense “authoritarian high modernism.” James C. Scott’s high modernism theory, thus, guides much of this thesis’s discussion of modernization schemes, notions of progress and social engineering. This work demonstrates that high modernist thought and the oppositional arguments were ultimately incompatible.