The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Photo of Georgia De Leeuw.

Georgia de Leeuw

Doctoral Student

Photo of Georgia De Leeuw.

The virtue of extraction and decolonial recollection in Gállok, Sápmi

Author

  • Georgia de Leeuw

Editor

  • Adrián Groglopo
  • Julia Suárez-Krabbe

Summary, in English

Swedish mining is often envisioned as virtuous, as coinciding harmoniously with quests for sustainability and the cultural survival of indigenous Sami peoples. This chapter posits that Sweden’s sense of exceptionalism in mining is embedded in a colonial/extractive system of knowledge that fails to mention non-capitalist, anticolonial relationalities to nature and ways of life. The normalised status of such colonial forgetfulness helps to justify extractive impulses in what are perceived as remote land areas, and for a comfortable dwelling in colonial innocence. Contributing to exceptionalism and decolonial literature, this chapter brings forth the concept of decolonial recollection to help grasp the subversive power that lies in disruptions of exceptional imaginaries. It refers to a tapping on the shoulder of stubborn forgetfulness, a disruption of that which safeguards imagined virtue in an attempt to remind the exceptional extractive self that beyond its gaze and linear storytelling lie perspectives of the neglected. The conceptual tool is instructive for analysing what are rather mundane, widespread claims to exceptionalism in mining in Sweden and elsewhere. Empirically, the disruptive power of decolonial recollection is illustrated through the conflict surrounding the planned mining project in Gállok/Kallak. As the longest and one of the most controversial processes in Swedish permitting history, it makes for a rich context for the dyad of colonial forgetfulness and decolonial recollection. Competing epistemic structures are read through their narrative iterations by pro- and anti-mining actors, respectively. The data consists of publicly available website and social media content, speeches, presentation material, photographs, art, and videos.

Department/s

  • Department of Political Science

Publishing year

2023-03-22

Language

English

Pages

68-88

Publication/Series

Coloniality and Decolonisation in the Nordic Region

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

Routledge

Topic

  • Other Social Sciences

Keywords

  • extractivism
  • mining
  • Sweden
  • Sápmi
  • extractive industry
  • coloniality
  • decoloniality

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 9781003293323