Sovereignty and territorialization are vital to extraction, dispossession, and colonization. While political geographers and political ecologists have long explored the connections between these processes, new forms of territoriality and new ways of thinking about sovereignty have inspired and generated new forms of resistance. This session will interrogate the role of power and resistance in and on landscapes of extraction. Analyzing the struggles around extraction is especially important given the ongoing rise of right-wing populism and the increasingly dire threats of climate change. We are particularly interested in papers that examine how struggles in extractive landscapes are curtailing or perpetuating this political trend, and what learnings they provide for building an emancipatory politics. We especially welcome theoretical and/or empirical submissions from queer, intersectional, Indigenous, and Black feminist intellectual traditions.

We invite papers that address questions such as: How does alternative, partial, or variegated sovereignty challenge asymmetrical power relations in the context of water resources, petroleum pipelines, food production, or any other environment of harm associated with dispossession, colonization, or capital accumulation? What kind of action shapes those approaches, strategies, and actions? How are struggles around extractive power gendered, queered, and racialized? At what scales do they operate and why does this matter? We’re also interested in submissions regarding instances where people from various backgrounds/identities collaborate in projects of extraction or dispossession; i.e., why and how do these projects generate participation?

Organizers: Amy Trauger,  Jennifer L. Rice, & Pablo Arias-Benavides

Please submit your abstracts to Amy Trauger at atrauger@uga.edu by 15 December 2023.

Modality: In-person