[Introduction to] Pipeline Resistance

DOI

10.1093/OBO/9780197768709-0050

Abstract

Pipeline resistance is where an often abstract and wonky climate movement meets the bravery and boldness of Indigenous and other frontline defenders of land and water who inspire direct action for environmental justice and foster creative imaginaries well beyond business-as-usual capitalism and colonialism. Especially since 2009–2016, when opposition to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines became central to the global climate movement, scholarly literature has emerged around the theme of pipeline resistance. We chose the title “Pipeline Resistance” rather than “Pipeline Activism” because while many pipeline fighters are proud activists, many others, including many Indigenous people, decline the activist label as marginalizing, trivializing, reductive, or inadequate to describe their impetus for environmental defense. Scholarship around earlier pipeline conflicts and anti-extraction movements, especially in the Global South, is one progenitor of emergent pipeline resistance literature.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2025

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