History, scale and the political ecology of ethical diamonds in Kugluktuk, Nunavut
Canadian diamonds are marketed as ethical alternatives to so-called 'conflict diamonds.' This research analyzes a series of focus groups conducted in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, an Inuit town impacted by diamond mining. The article sheds some light on the risks and benefits of mining, but it also...
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University of Arizona
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ftunivarizonaojs:oai:journals.uair.arizona.edu:article/21746 2023-05-15T15:07:11+02:00 History, scale and the political ecology of ethical diamonds in Kugluktuk, Nunavut Schlosser, Kolson 2013-12-01 application/pdf https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/21746 https://doi.org/10.2458/v20i1.21746 eng eng University of Arizona https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/21746/21292 https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/21746 doi:10.2458/v20i1.21746 Copyright (c) 2017 Kolson Schlosser http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Journal of Political Ecology; Vol 20, No 1 (2013); 53-69 1073-0451 10.2458/jpe.v20i1 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Peer-reviewed Article 2013 ftunivarizonaojs https://doi.org/10.2458/v20i1.21746 https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.v20i1 2020-11-14T16:49:40Z Canadian diamonds are marketed as ethical alternatives to so-called 'conflict diamonds.' This research analyzes a series of focus groups conducted in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, an Inuit town impacted by diamond mining. The article sheds some light on the risks and benefits of mining, but it also examines the broader historical and geographic context of commodity networks for diamonds as an entry point into a critique of the possibility of consumption as ethical praxis. What the analysis shows is that the risks and benefits assessed by focus group participants manifest themselves in a context of colonial dispossession of sovereignty over resources. This dispossession is part of the very process of market regulation that is necessary for capital accumulation. Accumulated capital professes to satisfy this created need ethically. In much of Arctic Canada, for example, this takes the form of a dependency on the market in order to secure the wages now necessary to engage in subsistence activities. The purpose of this article is not to unveil exploitive conditions of production or to claim that Canadian diamonds are in fact unethical, but rather to question what we mean by 'ethical' commodities by examining the claim within a broader historical political ecology.Keywords: Diamonds, political ecology, market regulation, Nunavut, ethical consumption. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic inuit Kugluktuk Nunavut Journals at the University of Arizona Arctic Canada Kugluktuk ENVELOPE(-115.096,-115.096,67.827,67.827) Nunavut Journal of Political Ecology 20 1 |
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Journals at the University of Arizona |
op_collection_id |
ftunivarizonaojs |
language |
English |
description |
Canadian diamonds are marketed as ethical alternatives to so-called 'conflict diamonds.' This research analyzes a series of focus groups conducted in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, an Inuit town impacted by diamond mining. The article sheds some light on the risks and benefits of mining, but it also examines the broader historical and geographic context of commodity networks for diamonds as an entry point into a critique of the possibility of consumption as ethical praxis. What the analysis shows is that the risks and benefits assessed by focus group participants manifest themselves in a context of colonial dispossession of sovereignty over resources. This dispossession is part of the very process of market regulation that is necessary for capital accumulation. Accumulated capital professes to satisfy this created need ethically. In much of Arctic Canada, for example, this takes the form of a dependency on the market in order to secure the wages now necessary to engage in subsistence activities. The purpose of this article is not to unveil exploitive conditions of production or to claim that Canadian diamonds are in fact unethical, but rather to question what we mean by 'ethical' commodities by examining the claim within a broader historical political ecology.Keywords: Diamonds, political ecology, market regulation, Nunavut, ethical consumption. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schlosser, Kolson |
spellingShingle |
Schlosser, Kolson History, scale and the political ecology of ethical diamonds in Kugluktuk, Nunavut |
author_facet |
Schlosser, Kolson |
author_sort |
Schlosser, Kolson |
title |
History, scale and the political ecology of ethical diamonds in Kugluktuk, Nunavut |
title_short |
History, scale and the political ecology of ethical diamonds in Kugluktuk, Nunavut |
title_full |
History, scale and the political ecology of ethical diamonds in Kugluktuk, Nunavut |
title_fullStr |
History, scale and the political ecology of ethical diamonds in Kugluktuk, Nunavut |
title_full_unstemmed |
History, scale and the political ecology of ethical diamonds in Kugluktuk, Nunavut |
title_sort |
history, scale and the political ecology of ethical diamonds in kugluktuk, nunavut |
publisher |
University of Arizona |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/21746 https://doi.org/10.2458/v20i1.21746 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-115.096,-115.096,67.827,67.827) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Kugluktuk Nunavut |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Kugluktuk Nunavut |
genre |
Arctic inuit Kugluktuk Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Arctic inuit Kugluktuk Nunavut |
op_source |
Journal of Political Ecology; Vol 20, No 1 (2013); 53-69 1073-0451 10.2458/jpe.v20i1 |
op_relation |
https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/21746/21292 https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/article/view/21746 doi:10.2458/v20i1.21746 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2017 Kolson Schlosser http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2458/v20i1.21746 https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.v20i1 |
container_title |
Journal of Political Ecology |
container_volume |
20 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766338746769211392 |