Resistance in spaces of triple exception: between mining, conservation, and exceptional people

ABSTRACT

‘Green’ mining may produce what Le Billon calls ‘spaces of double exception’ – spaces where people are stripped of their rights to give way to both mining and biodiversity offsetting. However, this article highlights that resistance movements can also use the ‘exception’ by claiming that ‘exceptional people’ have special rights to remain on their lands. By drawing on two landmark cases, the article argues that ‘spaces of triple exception’ provides a more suitable picture of the stakes and power battles involved, considering the ambivalent resistance and exclusionary risk of indigenous or tribal claims.

KEYWORDS:

• Resistance
• exception
• mining
• conservation
• indigenous

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Anders Burman and Patrik Oskarsson for their encouragement and feedback that helped strengthen the arguments of this article, as well as two reviewers for their critical guidance on an earlier draft. Any errors are mine alone.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Formas under Grant 2021-01874.

Notes on contributors

Marie Widengård

Marie Widengård is a researcher in the environmental social sciences, focusing on the politics of nature and natural resources.