Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Sovereignty and Indigeneity Assertions in Claims to Oil Extraction Rights

Cuny Graduate School University Center, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

CUNY Graduate Center doctoral candidate James J. A. Blair, supervised by Dr. Marc Edelman, will examine how individuals identified with colonial settlement assert claims of sovereignty and indigeneity to gain rights to extractable resources. The research is focused on the British settlers of the Falkland Islands (in Spanish, Malvinas), as they construct themselves as natives through new forms of governance over hydrocarbon resources. Thirty years after the 1982 military conflict that cemented the South Atlantic archipelago's British status, oil has been discovered near the islands, and Argentina has renewed its sovereignty claim. In response, the island's settlers held a referendum on self-determination in which 99.8% voted to remain British. The project thus investigates how the settlers are trying to reinvent themselves as a group of community-based natural resource managers, through a narrative of indigeneity that selectively reinforces Western norms and values. To understand how the settlers are reinventing themselves as natives with resource rights, Blair will analyze: (1) how debates around infrastructure are forming new local power relations; (2) how the dispute orients experts assessing environmental impact; and (3) how the islanders are packaging self-determination as a sign of stability for oil partners. Research incorporates observations and interviews with planners, scientists, townspeople, migrants and shepherds in the islands, as well as defected islanders and protest groups in Argentina. Through analysis of colonial reports, Blair will consider how the present moment is an outcome of historical relations of resource governance. This project is uniquely positioned to apply an anthropological approach to geopolitics. Sovereignty disputes over mineral-rich island chains have intensified during the global energy crisis. But many of these territories are uninhabited. Blair will contribute an anthropological perspective to emerging geopolitical constellations, by conducting research on a disputed archipelago that is populated. Committed to the aims of public anthropology, Blair has an on-going affiliation with The Economist, which will allow him to disseminate his findings widely.