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Masculinity, labour, and Indigeneity: identity negotiation on the path to a just transition
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- Author / Creator
- Letourneau, Angeline Marie
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As pressure continues to grow to reduce global emissions, recognition of the widespread
impacts on various groups from such efforts has inspired calls for a just transition. On the one
hand, Canada's path to decarbonization must address workers who stand to lose their jobs, while
ensuring this does not compromise just futures for marginalized groups. In particular, the future that a
just transition is working toward must attend to Indigenous sovereignty to resist reproducing existing
systems of inequity. To explore this tension, I attend to the instrumental role of identity in shaping how
different groups navigate the transition. I approach the energy transition with an emphasis on
materiality, framing resource extraction as a process involved with both fossil fuel energies and
renewable technologies. I begin by acknowledging the stereotypes that surround those who work in
resource extraction and, in so doing, draw attention to the class, gender, and colonial narratives that
support these extractive identity archetypes. Through identity scholarship, I seek to explore paths
towards a just transition that emerge once the influence of these extractive identities has been
acknowledged. The three questions guiding this work include: 1) What relationship does identity have to
either resistance against or support for transition? 2) What role does livelihood actually play in identity?
3) How might we mobilize the values expressed by extraction workers to support, rather than resist,
transition? I take three unique approaches to explore these questions. First, I conduct a thought
experiment emerging from a social media analysis on the potential for fossil fuel worker identities to be
co-opted by bots on social media to sway public perceptions on a transition. Then, I analyze semistructured
interviews with Alberta oil and gas workers and, finally, semi-structured interviews with mine
workers from the Tłıc̨ hǫ nation. I find that some identities are more relevant to the energy transition
than others and advance the concept of politically salient identities to capture the relevance of
extractive workers to the broader transition conversation. I argue that resistance to transition does not emerge from a role commitment to extractive labour, but the status and class mobility made possible
through employment in the industry. The perceived class-based gender stereotypes about field-level
workers act as a key source of mistrust among workers in transition policies. I, therefore, highlight the
importance of class analysis in energy transition research and the need for meaningful participation of
impacted labour groups in imagining energy futures. I also argue that broad identity meanings serve as
an important source of resilience for groups navigating social change, particularly for the Tłıc̨ hǫ. Finally, I
advocate that transition planning must explicitly focus on rural, Indigenous workers so communities are
not coerced into resource development to fuel rising global demand for rare earth minerals. -
- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2024
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.