Indigenous Legalities, Pipeline Viscosities
Colonial Extractivism and Wet’suwet’en Resistance
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of Alberta Press
Published:29th Feb '24
Should be back in stock very soon
The book explores how colonial forces seek to control Indigenous claims, and how the Wet'suwet'en resist.
McCreary explores how colonial forces seek to control Indigenous claims, and how the Wet'suwet'en resist.Indigenous Legalities, Pipeline Viscosities examines the relationship between the Wet’suwet’en and hydrocarbon pipeline development, showing how colonial governments and corporations seek to control Indigenous claims and how the Wet'suwet'en resist. Tyler McCreary explores pipeline regulatory review processes, reviews attempts to reconcile Indigeneity with development, and asks fundamental questions about territory and jurisdiction. In the process, he offers historical context for the continuing influences of colonialism on Indigenous peoples. Throughout, McCreary demonstrates how the cyclical movements between resistance and reconciliation are affected by the unequal relations between Indigenous peoples, colonial governments, and development operations. This sophisticated analysis invites readers to consider the complex realities of Indigenous and Wet’suwet’en law, as well as the politics of pipeline development.
"Indigenous Legalities, Pipeline Viscosities documents Indigenous resistance to extractive projects, traditional territorial claims, and colonial energy development. The legal questions and observations are important innovations to help us better understand Indigenous-colonial resources conflicts." Andrew Curley, University of Arizona
"McCreary examines how Wet’suwet’en territorial claims intersected with the logic of extractive capitalism in the development and review processes for the Northern Gateway pipeline project. He demonstrates the constraining effects of this process on Indigenous claims to land and territory while also revealing the manner in which such processes created space for powerful Indigenous counter-claims, challenging colonial logics of sovereignty and jurisdiction." Nicholas Blomley, Simon Fraser University
"Recommended." B. E. Johansen, CHOICE, October 2024
"For those wanting insight into the complex realities of Indigenous law and proposed resource development in Canada, [Indigenous Legalities, Pipeline Viscosities] is an essential book." Alberta Views, May 2025
"Although an oil pipeline forms the through-thread and titular concern of McCreary’s book, this is a work of scholarship about much more than explaining contested infrastructure projects. It is a searching account in which history, reams of legal evidence, and extractive politics—from state regulations to corporate action to the spectrum of Indigenous responses—contribute to a novel and important contribution to geography and to studies of settler colonialism. It is a work that foregrounds Indigenous law, its complexity, endurance, and survivance." Jeremy Schmidt, American Review of Canadian Studies, 55.2 [Full review at https://doi.org/10.1080/02722011.2025.2528310]
- Winner of Scholarly and Academic Book of the Year, Alberta Book Publishing Awards, Book Publishers Association of Alberta 2025 (Canada)
ISBN: 9781772127041
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 19mm
Weight: 1223g
376 pages