ABSTRACT
Resources are not only political and economic projects; they are outgrowths of colonial practices and processes centuries in the making. For Indigenous nations, the idea of resources was always a violent project of world-making. Critical resource geography must challenge the anthropocentric implications of “natural resources” as an understanding of the environment. In this chapter, I explore how the idea of resources generates its own complicated understandings of work, livelihood, and identity within tribal communities. As an example, Navajo Green Jobs and energy “transition” demonstrate both the ontological and material intrusions of the idea of resources onto Indigenous communities and peoples and the ways that Indigenous environmental groups challenge these industries with sustainable projects that replicate the perceived benefits that resources provide: jobs and regular revenues for the tribal government. Consequently, energy transition in Indian country replicates the colonial understandings of resources that are destructive and unsustainable. In conclusion, decolonization requires the rejection of “resources” as an operational concept for both future development and governance practices.
