Anti-extractive Rumouring in the Russian North-East

• Published in: Revue internationale de politique de développement
• Main Author: Nikolaeva, Sardana
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement 2023
• Subjects: extractivism; indigenous resistance; rumoring; indigenous peoples; environment; mining; diamonds; civil society; Russian North
• Online Access: https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/5666

This chapter discusses the potentiality of alternative Indigenous politicised discourses, arguing that diverse public narratives can reveal more subtle, yet still effective forms of agency, and, most importantly, highlight the plurality of Indigenous anti-extractive discourses. Building on ethnographic materials, I address the neglected subject of rumours that can open a specific productive space for alternative forms of evidence to understand, write, and most importantly, experience resistance. I demonstrate how localised rumours can mirror uneven power relations between local community, extractive company, and the state. Through the production and reproduction of certain rumouring narratives, the community expresses its fears and anxieties over changing environmental conditions (especially water pollution and radiation), concerns over health, and its members’ precarious and marginalised position within the extensive discourses on economic development, extractive profits and government interventions. Under these conditions of marginality, the community members resist with the only resource they have—rumours—reacting to and, sometimes, subverting their precarious positions. Ce chapitre traite de la potentialité des discours politiques autochtones alternatifs, en soutenant que la présence de divers récits publics peut révéler des formes de capacité d’agir (agency) plus subtiles mais toujours efficaces et, surtout, peut mettre en évidence la pluralité des discours autochtones anti-extractives. En m’appuyant sur des données ethnographiques, j’aborde comment le sujet négligé des rumeurs peut ouvrir un espace productif spécifique à d’autres formes de preuves, pour comprendre, écrire et plus important encore, faire l’expérience de la résistance. Je démontre comment les rumeurs localisées peuvent refléter les relations de pouvoir inégales entre communauté locale, entreprise extractive, et l’État. A travers la production et la reproduction de certains récits de rumeurs, la communauté exprime ses craintes et ses ...