Oil extraction and indirect dispossession: responsibility and resistance in southern sacrifice zones

Abstract

Land grabs and resource extractivism have received attention amidst global inequality. While many studies have emphasised their disproportionate effects through direct land appropriations, a few have attended to the role of indirect dispossession. This article examines oil extraction in Mexico and its links to indirect dispossession. We argue that restricted resource access and dispossession by environmental degradation contain the key effects of hydrocarbon extractivism at the frontslines. The article demonstrates the residents' tactics of resistance, and the forms of pressure and persuasion by the oil industry to tame contention. It provides insights into dispossession, contestation, and responsibility in extractive sacrifice zones.