Name
Cross-cultural allyship in spaces of environmental justice: Unpacking the Politics of Nature of the Peace & Friendship Alliance in Wabanakek
Date & Time
Thursday, May 22, 2025, 4:15 PM - 4:30 PM
Description

This presentation provides a glimpse into Koller’s doctoral research, which asks, how do cross-cultural spaces of resistance to economic exploitation of the land contribute to the development of authentic allyship in the context of reconciliation in Wabanakek? The Peace and Friendship Alliance (PFA), a robust alliance of Wabanaki land and water defenders and non-Indigenous environmental justice activists operating in Wabanaki territory in New Brunswick, serves as a case study. Located conceptually within political ecology, Koller’s research draws upon the interconnected theories of Indigenous environmental justice (Gilio-Whitaker, 2019; Jarratt-Snider & Neilsen, 2020), the construction of Nature (Castree & Braun, 1998; Escobar, 1996 & 2006; Smith, 2007), and capitalist settler-colonialism (Alfred, 2009; Coulthard, 2014; Wolfe, 2006). Koller, a long-term guest in unceded Wolastoqey territory of Acadian-Hungarian ancestry, employs a two-eyed seeing methodology informed by her own embeddedness in the alliance’s network of relations to deconstruct the dynamics of the movement. Drawing upon qualitative interviews and critical discourse analysis, her research highlights the interplay of colonial power relations, place-based identities, and Nature ontologies operating in this network space. This presentation summarizes how various actors within the PFA network – particularly members of the Wolastoq Grand Council and the Council of Canadians-Fredericton – understand and relate to one another and the natural world. Situated within the context of shared resistance to shale gas fracturing and diverse opinions on the meaning of reconciliation, this presentation reveals how cross-cultural allyship in the PFA is shaped by, and can shape, the Politics of Nature in Wabanakek.

Location Name
Canal (CB) 2400
Session Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract ID
CCA124
Speaker Name
Katalin Koller
Speaker Organization
Carleton University
Session Name
CS159 Geographies of Resistance and Organizing