The role of emotions in ontological conflicts: a case of study of the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en

Drawing on a methodological approach that involved visual ethnography and combined content and narrative analysis, my research aims to analyse the role that emotions play in the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia provincial government, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en. Usi...

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Main Author: B.A. Gálvez-Campos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Bristol University Press 2024-07-01
Series:Global Social Challenges Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1332/27523349Y2024D000000017
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author B.A. Gálvez-Campos
author_facet B.A. Gálvez-Campos
author_sort B.A. Gálvez-Campos
collection DOAJ
description Drawing on a methodological approach that involved visual ethnography and combined content and narrative analysis, my research aims to analyse the role that emotions play in the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia provincial government, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en. Using high-quality online audiovisual material produced by the Wet’suwet’en – allowing a critical perspective throughout the article on the politics of self-representation – I was able to get into the conflict with a phenomenological approach, employing my senses to analyse body movements, tone of voice and language. Theoretically, I articulate a framework made up of Ingold’s phenomenology, Blaser’s ontological conflicts and Escobar’s studies of culture. Then, I build on the spiderweb, a metaphor developed by Ingold, to expand the scope of González-Hidalgo’s emotional political ecologies. The results show that Coastal GasLink, taking culture ‘as a symbolic structure’, proposes as a central mitigation strategy, through their environmental impact assessment, what I call ‘an ontological interruption’ of the Yintakh. Besides, I demonstrate that the processes of political inter-subjectivation sought at the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre help understand the worry, frustration and stress of the Wet’suwet’en facing the world-creating practices of Coastal GasLink. On the other hand, the Healing Centre also reveals how the affections for the other-than-human and their spiderweb (Yintakh or relational world) inform Wet’suwet’en resistance. Lastly, I unveil how Coastal GasLink and the Ministry of Aboriginal Rights, through practices of inclusion and gender equality, seek to blur radical cultural differences, delegitimise the Wet’suwet’en precolonial governance system, and create affections for the Western-modern world.
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spelling doaj-art-f12f2fd26ed64b0eb88830892ecb7ed62024-12-12T13:10:58ZengBristol University PressGlobal Social Challenges Journal2752-33492024-07-013210.1332/27523349Y2024D000000017gscj-03-02-164The role of emotions in ontological conflicts: a case of study of the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’enB.A. Gálvez-Campos0Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala and Uppsala University, SwedenDrawing on a methodological approach that involved visual ethnography and combined content and narrative analysis, my research aims to analyse the role that emotions play in the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia provincial government, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en. Using high-quality online audiovisual material produced by the Wet’suwet’en – allowing a critical perspective throughout the article on the politics of self-representation – I was able to get into the conflict with a phenomenological approach, employing my senses to analyse body movements, tone of voice and language. Theoretically, I articulate a framework made up of Ingold’s phenomenology, Blaser’s ontological conflicts and Escobar’s studies of culture. Then, I build on the spiderweb, a metaphor developed by Ingold, to expand the scope of González-Hidalgo’s emotional political ecologies. The results show that Coastal GasLink, taking culture ‘as a symbolic structure’, proposes as a central mitigation strategy, through their environmental impact assessment, what I call ‘an ontological interruption’ of the Yintakh. Besides, I demonstrate that the processes of political inter-subjectivation sought at the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre help understand the worry, frustration and stress of the Wet’suwet’en facing the world-creating practices of Coastal GasLink. On the other hand, the Healing Centre also reveals how the affections for the other-than-human and their spiderweb (Yintakh or relational world) inform Wet’suwet’en resistance. Lastly, I unveil how Coastal GasLink and the Ministry of Aboriginal Rights, through practices of inclusion and gender equality, seek to blur radical cultural differences, delegitimise the Wet’suwet’en precolonial governance system, and create affections for the Western-modern world.https://doi.org/10.1332/27523349Y2024D000000017wet’suwet’enemotional political ecologiesterritorial conflictsrelational ontologiesenvironmental justice
spellingShingle B.A. Gálvez-Campos
The role of emotions in ontological conflicts: a case of study of the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en
Global Social Challenges Journal
wet’suwet’en
emotional political ecologies
territorial conflicts
relational ontologies
environmental justice
title The role of emotions in ontological conflicts: a case of study of the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en
title_full The role of emotions in ontological conflicts: a case of study of the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en
title_fullStr The role of emotions in ontological conflicts: a case of study of the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en
title_full_unstemmed The role of emotions in ontological conflicts: a case of study of the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en
title_short The role of emotions in ontological conflicts: a case of study of the territorial–ontological conflict between British Columbia, Coastal GasLink and the Wet’suwet’en
title_sort role of emotions in ontological conflicts a case of study of the territorial ontological conflict between british columbia coastal gaslink and the wet suwet en
topic wet’suwet’en
emotional political ecologies
territorial conflicts
relational ontologies
environmental justice
url https://doi.org/10.1332/27523349Y2024D000000017
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