Masculinity, labour, and Indigeneity: identity negotiation on the path to a just transition
Creators: Letourneau, Angeline Marie
Publisher: name: University of Alberta Library
Year: 2024

<p>As pressure continues to grow to reduce global emissions, recognition of the widespread<br>
impacts on various groups from such efforts has inspired calls for a just transition. On the one<br>
hand, Canada&#39;s path to decarbonization must address workers who stand to lose their jobs, while<br>
ensuring this does not compromise just futures for marginalized groups. In particular, the future that a<br>
just transition is working toward must attend to Indigenous sovereignty to resist reproducing existing<br>
systems of inequity. To explore this tension, I attend to the instrumental role of identity in shaping how<br>
different groups navigate the transition. I approach the energy transition with an emphasis on<br>
materiality, framing resource extraction as a process involved with both fossil fuel energies and<br>
renewable technologies. I begin by acknowledging the stereotypes that surround those who work in<br>
resource extraction and, in so doing, draw attention to the class, gender, and colonial narratives that<br>
support these extractive identity archetypes. Through identity scholarship, I seek to explore paths<br>
towards a just transition that emerge once the influence of these extractive identities has been<br>
acknowledged. The three questions guiding this work include: 1) What relationship does identity have to<br>
either resistance against or support for transition? 2) What role does livelihood actually play in identity?<br>
3) How might we mobilize the values expressed by extraction workers to support, rather than resist,<br>
transition? I take three unique approaches to explore these questions. First, I conduct a thought<br>
experiment emerging from a social media analysis on the potential for fossil fuel worker identities to be<br>
co-opted by bots on social media to sway public perceptions on a transition. Then, I analyze semistructured<br>
interviews with Alberta oil and gas workers and, finally, semi-structured interviews with mine<br>
workers from the Tłıc̨ hǫ nation. I find that some identities are more relevant to the energy transition<br>
than others and advance the concept of politically salient identities to capture the relevance of<br>
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<br>
through employment in the industry. The perceived class-based gender stereotypes about field-level<br>
workers act as a key source of mistrust among workers in transition policies. I, therefore, highlight the<br>
importance of class analysis in energy transition research and the need for meaningful participation of<br>
impacted labour groups in imagining energy futures. I also argue that broad identity meanings serve as<br>
an important source of resilience for groups navigating social change, particularly for the Tłıc̨ hǫ. Finally, I<br>
advocate that transition planning must explicitly focus on rural, Indigenous workers so communities are<br>
not coerced into resource development to fuel rising global demand for rare earth minerals. </p>