Toxic and Intoxicating Oil: Discovery, Resistance, and Justice in Aotearoa New Zealand

Author:   Patricia Widener
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
ISBN:  

9781978805040


Pages:   262
Publication Date:   12 March 2021
Recommended Age:   From 18 to 99 years
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Toxic and Intoxicating Oil: Discovery, Resistance, and Justice in Aotearoa New Zealand


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Overview

When oil and gas exploration was expanding across Aotearoa New Zealand, Patricia Widener was there interviewing affected residents and environmental and climate activists, and attending community meetings and anti-drilling rallies. Exploration was occurring on an unprecedented scale when oil disasters dwelled in recent memory, socioecological worries were high, campaigns for climate action were becoming global, and transitioning toward a low carbon society seemed possible. Yet unlike other communities who have experienced either an oil spill, or hydraulic fracturing, or offshore exploration, or climate fears, or disputes over unresolved Indigenous claims, New Zealanders were facing each one almost simultaneously. Collectively, these grievances created the foundation for an organized civil society to construct and then magnify a comprehensive critical oil narrative--in dialogue, practice, and aspiration. Community advocates and socioecological activists mobilized for their health and well-being, for their neighborhoods and beaches, for Planet Earth and Planet Ocean, and for terrestrial and aquatic species and ecosystems. They rallied against toxic, climate-altering pollution; the extraction of fossil fuels; a myriad of historic and contemporary inequities; and for local, just, and sustainable communities, ecologies, economies, and/or energy sources. In this allied ethnography, quotes are used extensively to convey the tenor of some of the country’s most passionate and committed people. By analyzing the intersections of a social movement and the political economy of oil, Widener reveals a nuanced story of oil resistance and promotion at a time when many anti-drilling activists believed themselves to be on the front lines of the industry’s inevitable decline.

Full Product Details

Author:   Patricia Widener
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
Imprint:   Rutgers University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.463kg
ISBN:  

9781978805040


ISBN 10:   1978805047
Pages:   262
Publication Date:   12 March 2021
Recommended Age:   From 18 to 99 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Which Way Aotearoa New Zealand? Kia Ora: Welcome to the Bottom of the World Becoming another Oil Story A Social Analysis of Oil Advocacy & Resistance Chapter 2: An Allied Ethnography Critical Place Ethical Comparisons Surveillance Banking Time Chapter 3: Dominant & Critical Oil Narratives Three Flows of Oil New Zealand’s O&G History Dominant Oil Paradigm Critical Oil Paradigm Chapter 4: Oil at the Bottom of the World Cultural Capture & Conflict Regulatory Capture & Toxic Alliances Accommodating Extraction: Then & Now Preserving Cultural or Capital Taonga? Chapter 5: License to Criticize: From Disasters to Resistance Routinization of Violence Oil Promises, Human Losses Rena: An Oil & Cargo Spill “A Little Government Waits” Sweat Equity, 8000-Strong Distinctly Māori National Resistance: Now-or-never Focusing Events Illusions of Recovery & Safety Chapter 6: Marine Justice: Defending the Seas, Claiming the Coastline Coastal & Saltwater Sociology A Harbinger: Punching beyond the Shoreline Māori vs Petrobras The “Dodgy Bullshit” of Anadarko Greenpeace: An Ideal Type of Resistance Kaikoura: Kaitiaki & Whale-watching Otago’s Natural Gas & Divided Alliances Marine Justice: Whose Ocean? Our Ocean? Chapter 7: Mobilizing the Middle: Ka Nui! “No Mining, No Drilling, No Fracking, Enough!” Unconventional Technologies, Controversial Impacts Rousing the Middle “Their Truth:” Global Flow of Citizen Knowledge From Taranaki, with Intent Problematizing Taranaki Enabling a Sacrifice Chapter 8: Tainting a Clean, Green Image Pure Products, Green Jobs Generational Pride, Ecocultural Consciousness Realism or a “Green Mirage”? Greenies Silenced by Association Hypocrite Drivers “Feeling a Bit Under Siege” Aotearoa Justice Chapter 9: Oil: Catalyst for Reviving Climate Activism Inverse Accounting “The Failure of the World” Re-energizing the Frontlines “Bubbling Away Underneath” Bind of a Spill Struggle to Localize Impacts Intergenerational Worry Chasing Global Justice Chapter 10: Disrupting Oil for Transformative Justice Applying Critical Environmental Justice Advancing Just Transitions About the Author References Index  

Reviews

"""Unlike others who have experienced an oil spill, or hydraulic fracturing, or offshore oil and gas exploration, or climate fears, or disputes over unresolved Indigenous claims, New Zealanders were facing each one almost simultaneously. Collectively, these grievances mobilized civil society to construct and then to magnify a comprehensive critical oil narrative - in dialogue, local practice, and national aspiration. In this allied ethnography, quotes are used extensively to convey the tenor of some of the country's most passionate and committed people, including many community advocates and anti-drilling activists who believed themselves to be on the front lines of the oil industry's promotions and inevitable decline.""-- ""ASA Environmental Newsletter"" ""A gripping analysis of the motivations of those who protested against the surge in oil and gas exploration in Aotearoa New Zealand's oceans and lands in the 2010s. Drawing from her own experiences in the field, Widener immerses the reader in the physical and emotional realities of protest action, and shows how the interplay of culture, identity, politics, and environmental concerns gave rise to a multi-faceted resistance to an expansionist oil and gas program.""--Janet Stephenson ""Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago"" ""The care that Widener takes in her research is outstanding- she manages to convey a strong sense of the real nature of ethnographic and case study research: unpredictable, problematic, and exciting.""--Sherry Cable ""author of Sustainable Failures: Environmental Policy and Democracy in a Petro-dependent World"""


A gripping analysis of the motivations of those who protested against the surge in oil and gas exploration in Aotearoa New Zealand's oceans and lands in the 2010s. Drawing from her own experiences in the field, Widener immerses the reader in the physical and emotional realities of protest action, and shows how the interplay of culture, identity, politics, and environmental concerns gave rise to a multi-faceted resistance to an expansionist oil and gas program. --Janet Stephenson Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago The care that Widener takes in her research is outstanding- she manages to convey a strong sense of the real nature of ethnographic and case study research: unpredictable, problematic, and exciting. --Sherry Cable author of Sustainable Failures: Environmental Policy and Democracy in a Petro-dependent World


The care that Widener takes in her research is outstanding- she manages to convey a strong sense of the real nature of ethnographic and case study research: unpredictable, problematic, and exciting. A gripping analysis of the motivations of those who protested against the surge in oil and gas exploration in Aotearoa New Zealand's oceans and lands in the 2010s. Drawing from her own experiences in the field, Widener immerses the reader in the physical and emotional realities of protest action, and shows how the interplay of culture, identity, politics, and environmental concerns gave rise to a multi-faceted resistance to an expansionist oil and gas program.


Author Information

PATRICIA WIDENER is an associate professor of sociology at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and author of Oil Injustice: Resisting and Conceding a Pipeline in Ecuador. She conducts allied qualitative research to advance an understanding and practice of climate, environmental, and marine justice, and to shed light on the socioecological risks of oil from its extraction to waste disposal. Currently, she is researching the impacts of extractive marine economies and regenerative aquatic practices among coastal communities and marine advocates. When in residence in Florida, she conducts regional studies on climate change and activist campaigns. Before studying sociology, she worked as a journalist for six years in Bangkok, Thailand, and Southeast Asia.  

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