Full Description
In Landscapes of Power Dana E. Powell examines the rise and fall of the controversial Desert Rock Power Plant initiative in New Mexico to trace the political conflicts surrounding native sovereignty and contemporary energy development on Navajo (DinÉ) Nation land. Powell's historical and ethnographic account shows how the coal-fired power plant project's defeat provided the basis for redefining the legacies of colonialism, mineral extraction, and environmentalism. Examining the labor of activists, artists, politicians, elders, technicians, and others, Powell emphasizes the generative potential of Navajo resistance to articulate a vision of autonomy in the face of twenty-first-century colonial conditions. Ultimately, Powell situates local Navajo struggles over energy technology and infrastructure within broader sociocultural life, debates over global climate change, and tribal, federal, and global politics of extraction.
Contents
Preface. Arrivals xi
Acknowledgments xvii
List of Abbreviations xxi
Introduction. Changing Climates of Colonialism 1
Interlude 1. Every Navajo Has an Anthro 19
1. Extractive Legacies: Histories of DinÉ Power 26
2. The Rise of Energy Activism 64
Interlude 2. Solar Power in Klagetoh 108
3. Sovereignty's Interdependencies 113
4. Contesting Expertise: Public Hearings on Desert Rock 149
5. Artifacts of Energy Futures 187
Interlude 3. Off-Grid in the Chuskas 230
Conclusion. Conversions 236
Epilogue. Vitalities 253
Notes 257
References 283
Index
