(Under)mining a just green transition

This thesis analyses the intersection between the green transition and the impact on indigenous land and communities through the lens of necropolitics by using as case study the dispute at Thacker Pass in Nevada between indigenous peoples, environmental groups, mining interests and government over lithium mining. This thesis argues that the narrative of green transition, one of technical solutions for decarbonisation in the fight against climate change, is built on a historic legacy of extractivism. In the case of lithium mining in Nevada, local communities, especially indigenous Shoshone-Paiute people, are torn between the economic opportunities of mining, environmental risk and damage to land culturally significant, and their marginalisation from a decision-making process that sees the interests of geopolitics and mining industries prevaricate. This struggle does not just entail a political conflict over control over the land, but highlights both a different relationship to land and resources, and how these differences shape power over life and death in the region. Positioning this struggle in a historical context reveals how past experiences of colonialism and extractivism have shaped contemporary socio-economic and political environments in which the contestation over lithium mining unfolds. This is revealed through the study of primary sources such as interviews, statements and articles by the involved parties. What emerges from these sources is the importance of narratives and how they are deployed to further competing agendas. Seemingly benign narratives such as the necessity of the green transition to combat climate change obfuscates potentially harmful impacts on local communities, which see a historical continuity of imposed sacrifice in the name of bigger narratives.