Towards Environmental Justice for a Changing Arctic and Its
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TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR A CHANGING ARCTIC AND ITS ORIGINAL PEOPLES: CONTESTING THE COLONIAL ‘POLITICS OF NATURE’ OF OFFSHORE DRILLING IN ALASKA by ALANA SHAW (Under the Direction of HILDA E. KURTZ) ABSTRACT Rising temperatures in the Arctic are spawning a new era of industrial interest in this region. While development projects like the Arctic offshore drilling program present the opportunity for much-needed regional economic growth and employment they also represent a significant risk to the traditional subsistence way of life that has been pursued by the Iñupiat on Alaska’s North Slope for millennia. The difficulties that the Iñupiat now face in terms of finding ways to balance their economic and cultural needs within a changing Arctic have only been exacerbated by a colonial ‘politics of nature’, which has both historically as well as currently worked to limit their abilities to effectively advocate for their own self-determined lives and futures as a sovereign people. Within the offshore drilling program, this has meant that the concerns and perspectives of the Iñupiat have been marginalized by its decision-making processes because of the intellectual superiority long afforded to Western ways of knowing, which is itself the product of a socially constructed divide between culture and nature that is upheld by dominant society. Such contemporary injustice is further compounded by those ‘well-meaning’ acts of forced cultural assimilation such as the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, which has profoundly altered the economic and political positioning of the Iñupiat in ways that have left them vulnerable to the siren call of offshore development. By exposing the indirect exploitation and procedural marginalization that the Iñupiat have thus far experienced within the offshore drilling program, this project highlights how intervening in these cycles of injustice requires a willingness to meaningfully engage with cultural difference and other ways of knowing and relating to nature. The integrated understanding of culture and nature held by many indigenous societies like the Iñupiat fundamentally rejects the idea that ‘business as usual’ development scenarios should entail such potentially high environmental and social costs. Ultimately, contemporary global society must be willing to respect and explore these perspectives in order to build an environmentally just future for a changing Arctic that reflects both the contemporary desires as well as the traditional values of its original peoples. INDEX WORDS: Environmental Justice, Culture-Nature Divide, Iñupiaq Traditional Knowledge and Values, Arctic Offshore Drilling TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR A CHANGING ARCTIC AND ITS ORIGINAL PEOPLES: CONTESTING THE COLONIAL ‘POLITICS OF NATURE’ OF OFFSHORE DRILLING IN ALASKA by ALANA SHAW B.S., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998 M.S., University of Vermont, 2009 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2016 © 2016 Alana Shaw All Rights Reserved TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR A CHANGING ARCTIC AND ITS ORIGINAL PEOPLES: CONTESTING THE COLONIAL ‘POLITICS OF NATURE’ OF OFFSHORE DRILLING IN ALASKA by ALANA SHAW Major Professor: Hilda Kurtz Committee: J. Peter Brosius Chris Cuomo Nik Heynen Amy Ross Electronic Version Approved: Suzanne Barbour Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the community of Wainwright, especially those elders who were willing to share their knowledge and stories of the ‘old days’ with me. I would also like to thank the Wainwright Traditional Council for their support of my work through a collaborative research agreement that I believe has mutually enriched both of our research efforts. To the Wainwright whaling crews who welcomed me to their camps and encouraged my participation in their harvesting activities, I am forever grateful. In ‘learning by doing’, I have begun to develop a much deeper appreciation of both Iñupiaq traditional knowledge and practices as well as the power of community. The moments marked by nearly delirious laughter and a sense of interconnectedness, which emerged as part of the camaraderie of hard work ‘out on the ice’, will always be some of my fondest memories of my time in the Alaskan Arctic. None of this, of course, would have been possible without the guidance of my advisor, Hilda Kurtz. I couldn’t ask for a better mentor who has challenged me to further hone my writing skills, while also supporting my efforts to remain true to my own voice as a fledgling writer and academic. Our conversations were always so productive yet enjoyable as her critiques were clear and well-founded and ultimately helped me to greatly refine and develop my ideas. I am also very thankful for my committee members, Pete, Chris, Nik, and Amy, who also invested their time and expertise into my dissertation and pushed me to a new level of clarity of thought and argumentation. iv I would be remiss if I did not also extend a sincere word of thanks to both the Geography department and staff as well as the ICON program folks for their encouragement of my work and the general atmosphere of support and collegiality that I have experienced throughout my tenure here at UGA. While my home department has thoroughly confirmed the fact that I made the best decision possible when I originally opted to pursue a PhD in geography, I am also very happy to have become a part of the ICON program’s inaugural years of high innovation and experimentation. I am also very thankful to Meredith Welch-Devine and the Graduate School for my research assistantship these past two years with the Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies. This position has not only further exposed me to new ideas and those individuals who are working hard to advance the goals of interdisciplinarity, but it has also afforded me the time necessary to bring this dissertation to its final fruition. I would like to thank the National Science Foundation’s Arctic Social Sciences division and my Program Officer, Dr. Anna Kerttula de Echave, for the grant that I received to pursue my research on Alaska’s North Slope. To have an organization that understands the unique funding needs and research logistics that accompany any Arctic research project has truly been a blessing. I also appreciate the patience of my parents and sister who kept wondering when it would be time to book those tickets for graduation! In addition, I was very lucky to have a wonderful crew of AK friends who were always there to greet me upon my arrival in Anchorage and who never failed to make my transitions in and out of the field so fun. And a big thanks to my GA home team, which includes Max, Griffin, Milo, and Nelson and the good friends with whom we have shared the last six years- y’all have helped me to not only keep my sanity but you have also v consistently reminded me to enjoy life along the way! Just like whaling, it truly takes an entire community to see a graduate student through to the end. So I would like to end with a big Quyanapak! to all of who have made this possible, as I couldn’t have done it without each and every one one of you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………… iv LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………...……………. xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: A CHANGING ARCTIC………………………………………...1 1.1 Fall Whaling in Wainwright in 2013…………………………………………..1 1.2 The Challenges of a Warming Arctic………………………………………….3 1.3 Dissertation Outline………………………………………………………… .10 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: RESOURCE COLONIALISM AND THE ‘POLITICS OF NATURE’ AT THE HEART OF ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE IN THE FAR NORTH………………………………………………………………………… ……16 2.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………...... 16 2.2 Justice in a Changing Arctic……………………………………………….....21 2.3 ‘National Sacrifice Areas’: In the Name of Progress………………………...24 2.4 Indirect Exploitation: Job Blackmail & Colonial Mentalities…………....… .30 2.5 The Politics of Nature: Resources vs. Relations & the Appropriate Role of Technology...…………..33 2.6 Translating Traditional Knowledge: Power, Cultural Context, & the ‘Traditional’…………………………..... ....40 vii 2.7 Adaptation as Native Tradition: Confronting the ‘Ecologically Noble Indian’………………………...………46 2.8 Recognitional Justice in a Changing Arctic…………………………..…… ...51 2.9 Conclusion………………………………………………………...………….54 3 METHODOLOGY: MOVING BEYOND ‘RESEARCH THROUGH IMPERIAL EYES’………….…...58 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………...……. …..58 3.2 Moving Beyond ‘Research Through Imperial Eyes’………………............... 61 3.3 Preliminary Research & Collaboration with the Wainwright Traditional Council…………………………………………………...………64 3.4 Project Participants………………………………………………...…………69 3.5 Research Design…………………………………………………...…….... ....71 3.6 Data Analysis……………………………………………………...……....... .86 3.7 Conclusion………………………………………………………...………….94 4 BACKGROUND: COLONIAL HISTORIES AND THE ‘REAL PEOPLE’ OF ALASKA’S NORTH SLOPE…………………………………………………………………...…96 4.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………...… ...96 4.2 Brief History of Alaska: Colonization, ‘Seward’s Folly’ & Statehood…...... .99 4.3 Regional History: Ulġuniq & the North Slope…………………...……...….102 4.4 The Legacy of the BIA Schools…………………………………...…… ......107 4.5 National Petroleum Reserve- Alaska……………………………...……... ...109 4.6 Discovery of Oil at Prudhoe Bay & Alaskan Native Land Claims…...……