Open AccessCautionary Tales: Making and Breaking Community in the Oil Sands Region
Author(s) -
Clinton N. Westman
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
canadian journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.357
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1710-1123
pISSN - 0318-6431
DOI - 10.29173/cjs19892
Subject(s) - trickster , transformative learning , adventure , sociology , opposition (politics) , mythology , capitalism , relation (database) , fantasy , aesthetics , history , literature , anthropology , art history , art , political science , law , computer science , pedagogy , database , politics
I consider data from Cree and Métis history, ethnology, and mythology to focus on three transformative modes (integration, disintegration, and media- tion) in relation to concepts of community. I develop an allegorical fantasy of oily monsters, tricksters, and their appetites arising from liquid commodities, in opposition to more integrative ritual practices that have historically underpinned community in the oil sands region of northern Alberta. Specifically, I suggest that (petro)-capitalism can be compared to the monstrous Windigo (not a trick- ster) with respect to its uncontrolled appetites and growth, and also that various proposed technical remediations resemble the vain adventures of the hubristic, foolish, and acquisitive Amerindian Trickster.