« Settler colonialism disrupts indigenous-animal relations: Sarah Deer, Liz Murphy, ‘”Animals May Take Pity on Us”: Using Traditional Tribal Beliefs to Address Animal Abuse and Family Violence Within Tribal Nations’, Mitchell Hamline Law Review, 43, 4 , 2017
Settlers in denial: Syned Mthatiwa, ‘Home and belonging in Irene Sabatini’s The Boy Next Door and Andrea Eames’ The Cry of the Go-Away Bird’, The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 2018 »

Consultation does not disrupt settler colonialism: Janelle Marie Baker, Clinton N. Westmanc, ‘Extracting knowledge: Social science, environmental impact assessment, and Indigenous consultation in the oil sands of Alberta, Canada’, The Extractive Industries and Society, 2018

18Feb18

Abstract: This article provides a critical overview of consultation, impact assessment, and traditional land use research as these methods of extracting knowledge intersect in the oil sands region of northern Alberta. Based on our experience as anthropologists working in policy analysis, consultation, impact assessment, and community-engaged ethnographic research with impacted communities, we examine public participation and risk assessment procedures, including those conducted through documents and those conducted through personal or group interviews − primarily with Crees. Alberta’s oil sands industry has expanded exponentially in recent decades; however, consultation, impact assessment, and accommodation of Cree, Dene, and Métis interests in the region have not kept up with best practices established during the same timeframe. We point to a number of examples where consultation and impact assessment processes have supported an overall political economic push to develop the oil sands as quickly as possible. We argue for improved participatory processes to inform more open political and scientific debate.


Filed under: Uncategorized   |  Closed