Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Extractive Industries and Society: Original Article
The Extractive Industries and Society: Original Article
Original article
A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T
Keywords: The gold mining conflict in Skouries, Greece, has been a major natural resource controversy during the last
Discourse analysis several years. The present contribution focused on the discursive positioning of pro- and anti-mining actors, who
Mining all strove to remain agents of risk by employing manifest strategies (institutional and grassroots initiatives) and
Natural resource conflict latent strategies (not yet enacted but voiced). These strategies have been incubating divergent subject positions
Skouries
in each camp. Anytime the mining project was threatened, miners took over mining tunnels to demonstrate their
Subject positions
indispensable bonds with their work and place in a pre-burial connotation. In sharp contrast to miners’ de-
pendence on the mining company, local activists built on their own competences. Despite their strong bonds
with place, activists with a post-fordist model of working and labour conditions were compelled to consider
evacuating the area. The study showcases how natural resource conflicts are co-created by antagonistic actors in
their discursive positioning.
1. Introduction social divide has been highlighted by previous research in the study
area of the present contribution (Hovardas, 2017a, b; Calvário et al.,
Previous research targeting mining projects in confrontational local 2017; Hatzisavvidou, 2017; Tsavdaroglou et al., 2017). The area is si-
settings converged on a set of findings for opposing camps (Conde, tuated in Northern Greece and has a long mining history (see detailed
2017; Haikola and Anshelm, 2016; Lindahl et al., 2018; Velicu, 2019). description in Methods). A new mining project led to an escalation of
Mining proponents picture the local society in decline and urgent need the conflict amidst the Greek financial crisis. The mining controversy
of the input of strong external actors like multinational mining com- upset social ties even among close relatives and influenced people’s
panies. In contrast, mining opponents defend their place as a lifeworld bonds with their place. Mining proponents and opponents among local
capable of sustaining a multiplicity of values and functions, which are residents needed to reconsider former social relations and develop new
all threatened by mining. This camp promotes an alternative model for bonds with peers, distance themselves from old habits, reallocate
local development based on agriculture and tourism. The differences priorities and time to pursue novel goals, and launch self-empowerment
between the two camps reach well beyond the jobs vs. environment initiatives to restore control over their lives.
dilemma to also include faith in institutional licencing processes, reg- In their study of a gold mining conflict in Romania, Velicu and Kaika
ulations and technology (existent among mining proponents but lacking (2017) have described analogous developments as a process of sub-
among mining opponents), scale of anticipated impact (confined for jectification, building on the relevant work of Rancière (1981/2012;
mining proponents; extensive for mining opponents), and diversity in 1992). Subjectification involved abandoning prior subject positions and
the local economy (boosted by mining for its supporters, since mining adopting novel ones, for instance, to align mining opponents with the
may coexist with other economic activities; severely compromised by anti-mining agenda and initiatives undertaken (for a similar analysis
mining for its opponents, since mining is expected to dominate as a see Avci, 2017). Subject positions are the “vantage points” for subjects
monoculture in the long term). to orient themselves in the world and interpret it (e.g., Davies and
Given these contrasting perspectives, mining conflicts may have Harré, 1990; Wetherell, 1998). Laclau and Mouffe (e.g., Laclau and
serious implications for social bonding, risk perception and place-based Mouffe, 1985; Mouffe, 1992) elaborated on the various and at times
identities (e.g., Özen and Özen, 2017; Versalon and Creţan, 2013). A contradictory subject positions that may be taken by a subject. One’s
⁎
Present address: Department of Education, University of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos St, PO 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus.
E-mail address: [email protected].
1
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tasos-hovardas-85396932/.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2019.12.001
Received 20 August 2019; Received in revised form 5 December 2019; Accepted 6 December 2019
Available online 18 December 2019
2214-790X/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T. Hovardas The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2020) 110–118
capacity to integrate these different positions is crucial for the subject’s miners expressed their frustration by taking over the mining tunnels. A
unity. Discursive practices in natural resource conflicts are constitutive major turning point in the conflict was the building permit for an en-
in this regard: Actors defend their own positioning and confront rival richment factory issued in February 2016 under the provision of a law
argumentation lines; in these attempts, rival acts are the enabling introduced by the former governmental coalition. The Greek govern-
conditions for performing one’s own discursive acts (e.g., Potter, 1996). ment launched an arbitration case against the mining company (August
However, discourse may uncover contradictions between one’s own 2017), arguing that the latter had delivered a technical report that
subject positions (Davies and Harré, 1990, p. 47; Mouffe, 1992, p. 372). deviated from the necessary verticalization of production for delivering
These instances reveal the fragility of the subject’s unity: Given that pure metals as end products, which would be a prerequisite for claiming
subject positions will be continuously challenged in discourse, they all expected tax revenue. The arbitration ruled against the Greek gov-
cannot be permanently consolidated but may be only temporally fixed. ernment (April 2018) and the pending permit for a metallurgy plant
Discursive engagement may provide new positions to be taken up and was finally granted to the company in August 2018. In summer 2019,
this supply can change the way that the unity of the subject is estab- New Democracy won the national elections again and the mining
lished. Discursive positioning of pro- and anti-mining actors and their controversy regained priority in the political agenda.
subject positions, within an overall frame of subjectification processes,
will be the concentration of the present study. 2.2. Data sources, criteria for data collection, and unit of analysis
Discursive practices acquire meaning in an interaction with an in-
terlocutor, where other actors’ discursive practices serve as the pre- Six data sources were used: (1) Newspaper articles; (2) interviews;
requisite for one’s own acts (Harrè and Slocum, 2003; Potter, 1996). (3) posts in the website of Hellas Gold; (4) articles in Metalleutika Nea,
These are the background assumptions of the discursive positioning a magazine published by Hellas Gold; (5) posts in Soshalkidiki, a blog
perspective and have been implied in previous studies on mining con- supporting the anti-mining movement; (6) documentaries and TV panel
flicts (Özen and Özen, 2017; Tsavdaroglou et al., 2017), which all un- discussions. A first criterion for data collection was the time frame
derlined the mutually constitutive practices of actors in conflict. Al- covered, ranging from 2013, when conflict escalated after property of
though these studies shed much light on the relational character of the mining company was set on fire, to 2016, when the permit for the
inter-group dynamics, discursive positioning has not been used as an enrichment factory was issued. The second criterion for data collection
analytical approach. The present contribution focused on the discursive was explicit citation of mining proponents or opponents (e.g., direct
positioning of main actors in a prominent mining controversy in quotes, see in this regard Montiel and De Guzman, 2011). A third cri-
Greece, when the mining conflict escalated (2013–2016). The main terion was that subjects needed to explicitly refer to other actors in the
objective was to highlight the added value of discursive positioning in mining controversy. If such a direct reference to an interlocutor was not
framing the conflict, including implications for the subject positions of present, data were not further considered. The second and third criteria
actors. The research focused on how the pro- and anti-mining camps both addressed the perspective of discursive positioning followed in the
contrasted the costs and benefits they expected and the risks they were present study, since they allowed for a selection of discursive acts di-
willing to take if mining developments proceeded or not. The study also rectly attributed to social actors in the mining conflict (second cri-
concentrated on the strategies used by each camp to promote their terion) which were directed towards other actors (for the use of posi-
positions. The discursive positioning of actors and the subjectification tioning theory in examining intergroup relations see Harré et al., 2009;
process they engaged in had several effects on their place-based iden- Montiel and De Guzman, 2011). The unit of analysis across data sources
tities, which provide novel insight for the analysis of mining and nat- was a utterance of an actor (uninterrupted sequence of spoken or
ural resource conflicts. The research questions were the following: (1) written language) that included an explicit reference to another actor or
How did actors present the anticipated costs and benefits of mining in act (to be referred to henceforth as “extract”). In a final stage of data
their discursive positioning? (2) Which were the main strategies em- selection, extracts were outlined which were triangulated across dif-
ployed by the pro- and anti-mining camps? (3) Which were the im- ferent data sources (fourth criterion of data collection).
plications of the mining controversy for the subject positions of engaged
actors? 2.2.1. Newspaper articles
Online archives of two national newspapers (Kathimerini, www.
2. Methods kathimerini.gr, supporting the pro-mining camp; Efimerida ton
Syntakton, www.efsyn.gr, supporting the anti-mining camp) were
2.1. Study area and context of study searched by keywords in title and text (“Skouries”, “gold mining”, and
the main settlements in the study area, see Fig. 1). Any article with
The study area is in Northern Greece, Northeastern Halkidiki, and direct reference to the mining controversy was considered. In total, 25
involves several communities around a mountainous terrain next to the articles in Kathimerini with 39 extracts and another 26 articles in Efi-
seashore (Fig. 1). A new mining project was approved in 2011, which merida ton Syntakton with 42 extracts were selected for data analysis.
involved open-pit mining and on-site ore processing in Skouries, a lo-
cation close to surrounding Natura 2000 sites (Fig. 1). The project was 2.2.2. Interviews
taken over by Hellas Gold, controlled by 2012 by Eldorado Gold, after a Spokespersons of the pro- and anti-mining camp were detected in
series of changes in the former company’s fluid shareholder structure. newspaper articles, contacted and interviewed by the author after
Miners saw the new project as an opportunity for the whole area, providing their informed consent (all interviewees were briefed about
however, residents occupied in agriculture, fishing, forestry, and the research, given the option to withdraw from the research at any
tourism interpreted it as a major threat. The conflict scaled up in 2013 time, and granted access to research results). Spokespersons were re-
to mark the confrontation agenda between SYRIZA, the leading oppo- quested to name other people engaged in the conflict. Through this
sition party at that time which favoured the anti-mining movement, and purposive sampling and snowball technique, 26 local residents were
New Democracy, the leading governmental party which endorsed the interviewed, who represented equally the two camps. All interviewees
new mining project. participated voluntarily and were guaranteed anonymity. One-third of
Within a wider climate of financial crisis in Greece, SYRIZA has led interviewees were females. Interviewee age ranged between 19 and 72
a new governmental coalition in early 2015, which recalled technical years. Interviews lasted from 45 to 60 min and were recorded with the
studies of the mining company (April and August 2015). The main consent of interviewees. Interviews followed a semi-structured format
concern was the feasibility of the ore processing method foreseen (flash with two pre-determined themes: (1) Anticipated costs and benefits of
melting). The company suspended its operation in August 2015, while the new mining project; (2) strategies of engaged actors. Interviewees
111
T. Hovardas The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2020) 110–118
were encouraged to expand on any issue they wished. New questions 2.3.2. Data analysis
were formulated by the interviewer to elaborate on emerging topics. Data analysis was based on a combination of grounded theory with
Interviews terminated when information was saturated. Overall, 63 discourse analysis (see in this regard Fairhurst and Putnam, 2018) and
extracts by mining proponents and another 57 extracts by mining op- involved three stages. Open coding was first employed across all ex-
ponents were selected for data analysis. tracts to determine the codes used by the pro- and anti-mining camps.
Second, axial coding was employed (Strauss and Corbin, 1990, p. 96) to
2.2.3. Website of Hellas Gold reveal how engaged actors targeted other actors in the conflict. This
All posts in the website of Hellas Gold were considered for data was an operationalization of discursive positioning and concentrated on
analysis (www.hellas-gold.com/). Out of 112 posts, 40 were selected offensive (attacking rival positions) and defensive acts (defending own
containing 93 extracts. positions). Sequences of discursive acts were arranged in story-lines,
which were jointly produced by the social actors who were interacting
and which provided the interpretative context through which discursive
2.2.4. Metalleutika Nea acts acquired their social meaning and subject positions were elabo-
Sixteen issues of Metalleutika Nea, the magazine published by rated (Harré and Van Langenhove, 1991; Slocum and Van Langenhove,
Hellas Gold (2013–2016), were considered for data selection (https:// 2003). Extracts were classified and re-classified after repeated readings
www.hellas-gold.com/press-room/metalleutika-nea/). Overall, 126 of the entire corpus to unravel the interactionist confrontation between
extracts were singled out for data analysis. the two camps and determine patterns in discursive positioning. Axial
coding was concluded by deleting codes with less than 10 extracts (638
2.2.5. Soshalkidiki out of a total of 717 extracts were retained). In the third stage of data
All posts published in Soshalkidiki, the blog supporting the local analysis, selective coding was used for a subset of the data corpus,
anti-mining movement, were considered for data analysis (arranged in namely, the codes concentrating on the subject positions of actors. The
monthly archives in https://soshalkidiki.wordpress.com/). Out of a focus in this case was to examine how actors attempted to accom-
total of 1802 posts, 125 were selected containing 224 extracts. modate different and at times inconsistent subject positions. For each
stage of data analysis, inter-rater reliability was calculated for a 10 % of
the entire corpus with the assistance of a qualitative analysis expert.
2.2.6. Documentaries and TV panel discussions
This followed a preliminary discussion of data sources, criteria for data
The following documentaries and TV panel discussions were se-
collection, and unit of analysis. Reconsideration and re-assignment of
lected (see also References): (1) Alpha TV (2013); (2) Epsilon (2013);
extracts into codes stopped after two rounds of classification, when
(3) ERT3 (2013); (4) ERT3 (2015a); (5) ERT3 (2015b); (6) ERT3
inter-rater reliability reached over 85 %. All data analysis concentrated
(2015c). All documentaries and TV panels hosted both mining sup-
on a qualitative exploration of discursive practices2 and their implica-
porters and opponents and were sponsored by nationwide media. A
tions for actors’ subject positions.
total of 32 extracts by mining proponents and 41 extracts by mining
opponents were singled out for analysis.
3. Results
112
T. Hovardas The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2020) 110–118
Table 1
Risk calculus with considerations of environmental impact, jobs and employment in the discursive positioning of the pro- and anti-mining camps.
Consideration Topic Pro-mining camp Anti-mining camp
Environmental impact Footprint The new mining project will affect a small proportion, The new mining project will increase the environmental footprint
only, of natural resources of mining substantially
Threat Any adverse effects of the new mining project are The new mining project presents a major threat for local
overtly overstated by local activists livelihoods
Proof The fears expressed by mining opponents are Adverse environmental effects are already identifiable, even
unfounded and they are based on invalid assumptions before full-scale implementation of the new mining project
Reversibility Mining secures environmental restoration, which is an Mining expansion will bring about non-reversible environmental
integral part of the new mining project change
Trade-off Some environmental impact needs to be accepted in an Trade-off not accepted, since the new mining project will
informed trade-off of costs and benefits endanger irreplaceable environmental assets
Jobs and employment Working and labour Working and labour conditions offered by the mining Mining advocates themselves admit that they are willing to risk
conditions company cannot be compared to other alternatives their health to secure their jobs
Employment alternatives There is no other serious employment alternative in the There are many job alternatives locally to be readily exploited and
region apart from mining replace mining jobs
Heterogeneity in Mining is compatible with other local activities, such as Mining expansion will turn the whole region into a mining
employment tourism and primary sector activities monoculture
Job supply and demand Job opportunities in the mining sector are even Job losses due to mining expansion in the primary sector and
considered among mining opponents themselves tourism will outweigh any job offers in the mining sector
Long-term effects Mining expansion will secure multiple benefits and a In the long run, mining expansion will be only for the benefit of
much better future for local communities the multinational mining company and at the expense of locals
113
T. Hovardas The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2020) 110–118
Table 2
Main strategies deployed in the discursive positioning of the pro- and anti-mining camps.
Strategies Pro-mining camp Anti-mining camp
Manifest Institutional The mining project proceeds according to the licensed Environmental Violation of environmental regulations and EIA terms have been
Impact Assessment (EIA) study, which has been delivered by the repeatedly identified by competent authorities and verified after multiple
company, and which is a state-of-the art and scientifically solid study inspections
The legality and lawfulness of mining developments has been verified by The decisions of the Council of State are questionable on a legal basis,
numerous decisions of the Council of State inconsistent with national and European environmental legislation and
case-law, and reflect favoritism of the mining company
Local people who oppose the mining project have been deliberately The argumentation of the local anti-mining movement has been backed by
misinformed about its supposed adverse consequences several academics and academic institutions
Grassroots Miners argue that they will themselves control the mining company, if Activists march to the forest to monitor environmental change and gather
they realize any deviation from environmental regulations and rules, since data to examine if the company complies to environmental standards
they and their families would be the first to suffer from any adverse
consequence
Miners escalate their responses whenever the mining project seems to be Activists escalate their acts by a scheduled set of initiatives involving
threatened by undertaking demonstrations and marches, and they may demonstrations, events, and concerts to sustain a network of regional,
even choose to take over the mining tunnels to defend their jobs national and international supporting actors
Miners have always organized in their unions to stand up for their labour Activists acknowledge that they will need to depend on their own
rights and they are committed to defend their jobs at any cost, anytime strengths and competences, collaboration and decision-making to pursue
this will be needed their goals
Latent The mining company may choose to suspend its operation or withdraw Several local activists are considering to evacuate the area, if the new
from the area dependent upon the price of gold and pending mining mining project was eventually realized
permits
to be stopped from determining the future of the local society, which Grassroots acts in the case of miners involved a readiness to control
realizes that its survival is inseparably linked with place, with coexisting the company if they became aware of any divergence from environ-
in harmony with place… They need to be stopped from deciding who will mental regulations. Miners underlined that they themselves and their
be sacrificed to the logic of profit... (Soshalkidiki, Coordinating families were the first to bear the consequences of environmental de-
Committee of the local anti-mining movement, 2 October 2015) gradation and that they did not have lesser environmental concern than
anti-mining activists:
3.2. Strategies of actors engaged in the mining conflict Do you think we are irresponsible? That we are careless? That we are a
category of citizens who could sacrifice our health, the future of our
Data analysis revealed a rich repertoire of manifest strategies de- children, for a daily wage? That we would mortgage our property in our
ployed by actors, which involved institutional and grassroots initiatives region in vain? (TV panel, ETR3, member of local community
(Table 2). The former concentrated on the techno-scientific aspects of council, male, 14 October 2015)
the new mining project, such as the Environmental Impact Assessment
A prominent act for miners to escalate their responses was to take
study delivered by the company. The pro-mining camp referred to nu-
over the mining tunnels in the area, in a highly symbolic act which
merous decisions of the Council of State which were taken to verify the
showcased the bonds of miners with place. This act was displayed
scientific validity of this study:
anytime mining jobs or the investment of the mining company were
With its two decisions issued yesterday and today, the Council of State threatened and it was supported by their unions:
settles once and for all the legality of the Common Ministerial Decision,
In the central mining tunnel,…, this is where 100 miners have confined
which approved the Environmental terms for the operations of Hellas
themselves yesterday together with another 50 employees of the mining
Gold, and thereby declares null and void all claims of local residents
company who have already been there since Monday. As the President of
submitted in their appeals in 2011… The Fifth Chamber of the Council of
the Union of the Miners,…, has stated,…, the miners were completely
State dismissed the application for annulment supplied by 264 residents
acquainted with these conditions and their lives were not in danger at this
of the region…, confirming the environmental terms for the mining and
stage, while he further underlined that the conditions in the tunnels are
ore processing facilities… as well as the terms for removing, cleanup and
quite harsh. The miners are determined to stay in the tunnels until the
restoration of the old tailings ponds in Olympiada. (Site of Hellas Gold,
2000 mining jobs are secured… (Kathimerini, 26 August 2015)
19 February 2015)
Local activists performed an array of grassroots acts, for instance,
The position of mining opponents was that the mining company had
they marched to the forest to track landscape change and monitor how
violated environmental terms several times. They argued that the re-
the construction works of the company developed. Activists were able
cent decisions of the Council of State were inconsistent with national
to observe the gradual destruction of the forest, while they collected
and European environmental legislation and case-law and indicated
data to check if the company complied with environmental standards.
that competent authorities favoured the mining company. They often
These were two characteristic extracts for such acts:
cited academics and academic institutions who were highly critical of
the new mining project to justify the validity of their concerns: The landscape up in the mountain has changed. We can see that from
here day by day. We have seen all the destruction. Step by step. All the
Universities and renowned scientists have documented their disagreement
arbitrariness. People cannot easily grasp it. And this is why we have
with mining expansion in Halkidiki and have testified the dangers such
decided to meet and discuss, together with those who have expressed their
an expansion would entail. They warned for highly negative and irre-
solidarity, other movements and collectives, individuals, to talk and listen
versible consequences in forest ecosystems, water resources, the atmo-
to, in order to see how we will move from now on. With destruction in the
sphere, the soil, the sea, the heath of local residents, visitors and all
background. (Efimerida ton Syntakton, member of the Coordinating
people engaged in the various productive activities… (Soshalkidiki,
Committee of the local anti-mining movement, female, 20 August
Coordinating Committee of the local anti-mining movement, 14
2014)
January 2013)
On Good Friday and Easter Sunday we discovered that Kokkinolakas, a
114
T. Hovardas The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2020) 110–118
major stream linked to the facilities of Eldorado, turned red from acid Hellas Gold. Interestingly, the mining company secured locally much
runoff from the mines in Mavres Petres. Once again, the allegedly better labour and working conditions for its employees than the ones
trustworthy company which complies with all environmental terms as it dominating all over Greece during the financial crisis:
has always claimed in the press and as it has always declared empha-
The salaries Eldorado can offer are good. We are not speaking now about
tically in any response to doubt and accusation, was caught off guard.
salaries of hunger at the level of the collective agreement. You may earn
Perhaps they believed that the environmental crime they had committed
1200 Euro per month, or 1500 and 1800 Euro, these are good salaries. If
was not to be detected due to the holiday… The District Attorney and the
you are an unskilled worker and started yesterday, for instance, you may
police were informed in writing, while the Environmental Inspectors were
get 900 or 1000 Euro for a five-day working week. Where else can you
called to undertake an inspection. (Soshalkidiki, Coordinating
get that money? (Interview with miner, male, 27 June 2014).
Committee of the local anti-mining movement, 3 April 2015)
The new mining project seemed to establish an assembly line of
Activists escalated their acts by demonstrations and concerts with
open-pit mining and on-site ore processing, which allowed miners to
artists who stood by the local anti-mining movement and assisted in
maintain traditional corporate arrangements with their trade unions
establishing and broadening a network of regional, national and in-
reminiscent of a fordist model3, and which perpetuated male-domi-
ternational supporters. Although activists have frequently used this
nated work ethics and culture. Anytime this arrangement was threa-
external support they have also highlighted their ability to survive and
tened, miners were ready to take over the mining tunnels in the area to
endure without being dependent upon the mining company:
defend this fordist model. At the same time, the mining company exe-
In the world of Eldorado and corrupted media we do not exist. We cuted an extended programme of corporate social responsibility and
farmers, stock breeders, fishermen, bee keepers, people in tourism. We acted as a surrogate of the state in multiple ways. Mining supporters
who managed to survive for years without being dependent upon a pictured the mining company as an everlasting nurturer and provider,
multinational company… (Soshalkidiki, Coordinating Committee of as an Amalthea4, which would never let them down:
the local anti-mining movement, 17 January 2016).
Are you aware of many municipalities in Greece which would decline an
Apart from manifest strategies (i.e., implemented or under im- annual contribution of 3–10 million Euros with the exclusive purpose to
plementation), actors in both camps also considered strategies not yet cover their needs? (Metalleutika Nea, Issue 5, page 6, editorial note,
enacted but explicitly voiced (i.e., latent strategies). For instance, the May 2013)
mining company was ready to withdraw from the area, dependent upon
Mining opponents, on the other hand, wished to maintain sound
the price of gold or pending mining permits:
environmental conditions to be able to display their risk agency in a
The company reduced its fixed assets in Greece by 1.6 billion Euro, since post-fordist arrangement of an entrepreneurial type. While miners
the price of gold decreased substantially in the global market as com- strove to secure their jobs and took an informed risk in terms of ac-
pared to the initial value of the company’s investment in 2012 (1.8 cepting some minimal environmental impact related to mining, mining
billion dollars). These would certainly not be the latest news if the in- opponents had an exact opposite rationale: They had to be sure they
vestment of Eldorado would have proceeded according to schedule and if could operate under environmental conditions of an acceptable quality
the company did not have to face the well-known problems with the to be able to undertake their entrepreneurial tasks in primary sector
administration, which peaked lately and led the company to put on hold activities or tourism. Anytime they stated their readiness to evacuate
part of its activities. (Kathimerini, 28 January 2016) the area, they were admitting that they could reach a point where they
could no longer secure their autobiography in the area. These core
Interestingly, an analogous latent strategy was voiced by activists
features of the post-fordist model characterized several extracts, which
when they considered to evacuate the area, if the new mining project
portrayed an economy of scope with small-scale heterogeneous pro-
was realized. This consideration was not triggered by any type of re-
duction and diversification, taken over by a feminised workforce within
location programme, which was never offered to local residents, but it
a culture of entrepreneurialism and under a harsh critique of miners
exemplified how mining opponents were compelled to weigh risk-
being dependent on their employer:
taking:
How can you get a license for organic milk in a mining area? You cannot
I have heard a lot of people thinking about packing and leaving the place.
get such a license here for establishing an organic farm. We are now
I am also thinking about it seriously. We should not take such risks. This
trying to avoid the characterization of our region as a mining region, so
is the place where we were born and brought up. This is why it is too
that agrotourism would also be possible… Wherever you have a mining
harsh for us. Should we wait for the time to come when people will die
area, it cannot coexist with anything else, mining cannot coexist with
and when we will have to breathe all this dust and drink water that will
be polluted? If we could live another 20 or 30 years why should we live
only another 10 years? And it is not only us, but it is also our children. 3
The fordist and post-fordist models describe two different ways in con-
(Interview with fisherman, male, 22 June 2014) ceptualizing and organizing the production process, with marked psychosocial
and cultural implications (Gramsci, 1971; Harvey, 1990). In the fordist model
(fordism), mass production is based on the “assembly line” archetype and labor
3.3. Subject positions of engaged actors productivity is maximized by establishing work routines (Taylorism), which
result in economies of scale. Mass production is sustained by mass consumption,
Subject positions of engaged actors were explored by selective supported by bureaucratized unions with relatively increased density of un-
coding in the third stage of data analysis and after the risk calculus and ionized labor and institutionalized collective bargaining. The post-fordist model
strategies of actors had been described through open coding and axial (post-fordism) emerged in the 1970s and focuses on specialized products ne-
coding. The emphasis of selective coding was on how actors in both cessitating an increased diversity in terms of worker skills, largely related to
new technologies, as well as responsibility and autonomy. In the post-fordist
camps maintained a unity of subject positions and under which con-
model the labor force becomes highly differentiated, with flexible industrial
ditions these subject positions would be maintained or destabilized.
relations to accommodate this diversification, which are negotiated in a de-
Table 3 presents the results of this analysis. Both miners and anti- centralized manner, thereby, weakening the importance of unions. For a con-
mining activists strove to sustain their employment. However, this ef- tradistinction between fordism and post-fordism see Harvey (1990, p. 125-140;
fort differed considerably between camps. For miners, the new mining 141-172) and Ritzer (2011, p. 303-305).
project constituted a prerequisite for keeping their job, since mining 4
In Greek mythology, Amalthea was a nurturing goddess, often taking the
expansion has been an indispensable part of the investment portfolio of form of a goat that nurtured the infant Zeus.
115
T. Hovardas The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2020) 110–118
Table 3
Subject positions in the pro- and anti-mining camps.
Miners Anti-mining activists
farming, stock breeding, bee keeping, tourism, fishing… (Interview with instance, miners admitted themselves to a supervising role of the
farmer, female, 20 June 2014) mining company in keeping track with environmental regulations to
And in our case, here, those who went to work for the company,…, there confront activists who marched to the forest and “saw” environmental
was not even one distinguished individual among them in our town. That destruction unfolding in front of their eyes. Discursive positioning in
is, one was reaching his forties and did not have a job and was supported this case may imply a tendency of miners to lower risk perception and
by his family… and all of a sudden he could be found with a job in the downplay the severity of impact as a defensive mechanism for one’s
mines… (Interview with tourist entrepreneur, female, 29 June identity (Anton and Lawrence, 2014; De Dominicis et al., 2015). Al-
2014). though interpretations of actors for the same scenery were diverging,
the escalation of conflict verified the strong bonds of both miners and
anti-mining activists with their place, the former acting below the
4. Discussion ground by taking over mining tunnels, the latter acting above ground to
protect the forest.
The risk calculus employed by engaged actors allowed them to be- Despite the fact that all actors declared strong bonds with place,
come or remain agents of risk, namely, to retain or claim accountability latent strategies in some cases involved intentions to evacuate the area.
for their actions, sustain calculability and manageability of future Several activists voiced such an intention, converging in a paradox
events, and be able to choose freely among alternatives (e.g., Rasborg, manner with the latent strategy of the mining company itself. Previous
2012; Russell and Babrow, 2011). Niklas Luhmann (1990) dis- studies highlighted instances of “escapism” (Broto et al., 2010) or
tinguished “danger” from “risk” by underlining that the latter involves “anticipatory detachment” (Devine-Wright, 2009) to describe the op-
an informed decision by the subject to be exposed to possible threat tion to leave one’s place, provided that bonds with place deteriorated
(Luhmann, 1990, p. 138; see also Christoffersen, 2018). A subject is in and self-efficacy was weakened. In the present study, however, anti-
“danger” where she may suffer harm but has not deliberately integrated mining activists were determined to defend their place and their par-
it into a risk calculus (i.e., trade-off of costs and benefits related to the ticipation in the local movement provided numerous instances of em-
subject’s exposure to threat). Acting by means of such a calculus would powerment to support their self-efficacy. Was it not contradictory to
signify taking a “risk”. A “danger” would only become a “risk”, if an resist mining and be ready to evacuate at the same time? Local activists
actor would be given the chance to assume responsibility for being marched to the forest to protect it, which may have strengthened their
exposed to a threat. Under this frame, miners would not be willing to place attachment. However, these marches provided proof of environ-
endanger their jobs and this was accompanied by an acceptance of mental degradation as long as the signs of mining developments were
some exposure to environmental damage to secure employment op- changing the landscape. Activists referred to the destruction they “saw”
portunities in the mining sector. Conversely, mining opponents would and, at the same time, they needed to keep on fighting to halt this
not negotiate environmental quality threatened by mining to be able to course of events.
take their chances and succeed in their entrepreneurial activities in We may approach this contradiction within an ongoing sub-
agriculture and tourism. jectification process. Activists were empowered by capitalizing on sci-
In their goal to maintain risk agency, both camps were engaged in a entific expertise and networking to facilitate their insider/outsider
set of strategic acts. As reported in analogous case studies, the local tactics. By doing so, however, they could no longer deny accumulating
anti-mining movement questioned the credibility of the mining com- proof of anticipated change. A crucial issue for mining opponents oc-
pany in conforming with environmental terms (e.g., Özen and Özen, cupied in primary sector activities and tourism was that potential harm
2017; Versalon and Creţan, 2013) and recruited academics to decon- could not only decrease their profit but also compromise their ability to
struct the techno-scientific discourse of pro-mining actors (see Anshelm relocate, if needed. For instance, to relocate a micro-enterprise may
et al., 2018). In an exemplification of discursive positioning, academic necessitate liquidating part of the business as well as purchasing and re-
input was a necessary addition to the anti-mining camp to match up establishing mobile or immobile assets elsewhere. Environmental harm
against the approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment study of could decrease the value of assets currently owned and add an extra
the mining company and several decisions of the Council of State fa- cost on top of any reasonable loss to be expected due to any transaction.
voring mining developments at the institutional level of reference. The If chosen as an alternative, evacuation had to be attempted within a
local movement enacted a repertoire of both institutional tactics (also certain time window, before the ability to move had been undermined.
termed “insider tactics”) and extra-institutional, grassroots tactics Elaborating on exodus pointed towards a delicate balance in actors’ risk
(termed “outsider tactics”; see Adams and Shriver, 2017). If the insider taking, especially, avoiding false positives, e.g., evacuate when winning
gateway was necessary to the movement to prove their legitimacy as a the battle was still possible, and false negatives, e.g., staying in the area
credible challenger of the new mining project, the outsider gateway was when leaving would have been warranted, which would lock activists
indispensable to maintain their confrontational potential against the in a situation of “involuntary immobility” (see Askland, 2018). The
rival camp. Indeed, in some cases it was only through outsider tactics interplay of manifest strategies, ascertaining a continuity in discursive
that the insider perspective could have been pursued, for instance, acts, with latent strategies, introducing a discontinuity with former
when employing citizen science (e.g., outsider) tactics to collect sam- practices, can be approached by means of actors’ reckoning to avoid
ples from a local stream and be able to challenge the mining company such false positives and false negatives.
in fulfilling environmental regulations (insider tactic). Strategies deployed to maintain risk agency, however, have been
The present study showcases how natural resource conflicts are co- incubating divergent subject positions in each camp. Miners referred to
created by antagonistic actors in their discursive positioning. For their employer as a guarantor of job stability despite its fluid and
116
T. Hovardas The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2020) 110–118
contingent shareholder structure (see for a similar note Mayes et al., recommendations of previous research, which can range from in-
2014). Such a referent propagated an ahistorical image of a corporation tegrating and institutionalizing indigenous and local demands, for in-
which would always secure a continuity in working conditions and stance, by calling for an incorporation of social impact assessments as a
prospects in the mining sector (for a relevant and insightful elaboration necessary part of environmental impact assessments (Nygaard, 2016),
see Rajak, 2014). Discursive acts which presented local communities in to considering such an integration as hardly possible, for instance, in
decline and in need of the economic support and corporate social re- line with a perspective of “extractive dispossession” (Roche et al.,
sponsibility of the mining company contributed to consolidating ana- 2019).
logous subjectivities, which would depend on a continuous input and Since discursive acts of pro- and anti-mining camps were arranged
assistance by the mining company. Propagating the company as a sur- and adjusted so as to perfectly oppose one another, the present study
rogate of the state came along with a totemic version of the company as does not seem to support conflict resolution and reconciliation in the
an omnipresent nurturer and provider of the region, a local Amalthea. study area and analogous settings. The study revealed how actors en-
This positioning remained blind to many socio-economic implications gaged in the gold mining conflict in Northeastern Halkidiki, Greece,
and devoid of the transition in shareholder control. Anytime the pre- referred to the benefits and costs related to mining expansion using a
sence of the company in the area was threatened, miners would take risk calculus as an organizing principle, contrasting considerations for
over mining tunnels to defend their work and identity and demonstrate environmental impact to those for jobs and employment. The risk cal-
their indispensable bonds with place in a pre-burial connotation. culus allowed pro- and anti-mining actors to claim or maintain risk
In sharp contrast to miners’ dependence on the mining company, agency and informed their manifest and latent strategies with marked
local activists built on their own competences. The subjectification implications for their subject positions. Specifically, the strategies and
process in the local anti-mining movement introduced or reinforced subject positions of the pro-mining camp were reminiscent of a fordist
numerous qualities such as autonomy, self-reliance, responsibilization model, where place attachment was largely equated with attachment to
(i.e., accepting responsibility for one’s own livelihood), which are an assembly line of open-pit mining and on-site ore processing set up by
considered to be constitutive features of the neoliberal subject (Dardot the mining company, under the job stability and security of traditional
and Laval, 2017; Lemke, 2001). This would not entail, of course, that corporate arrangements and a male-dominated working environment
neoliberal subjects would endorse neoliberalism as a political orienta- and ethics. The strategies and subject positions of the anti-mining camp,
tion. We may follow the birth of this new type of subjectivity as an however, reflected a post-fordist model of an entrepreneurial orienta-
outcome of the frontal match between the fordist and post-fordist tion with small-scale heterogeneous production and diversification
models in our mining controversy: The fordist model was represented taken over by a feminised workforce, where sound environmental
by the mining company setting up an open-pit mining and ore proces- conditions were a necessity. The present study has delivered a theore-
sing assembly line, and its employees, who enjoyed job security and tical and methodological toolkit for exploring the discursive positioning
higher than average wages amidst the financial Greek crisis. The post- of actors and their intergroup dynamics, which shape mining conflicts
fordist model was represented by local anti-mining activists, whose in the study area and other mining “frontiers”. Future research needs to
entrepreneurial risk-taking depended on environmental background shed more light on these dynamics, especially by incorporating a
conditions. For mining opponents, the subjectification process which thorough account of subjectification processes and shifts in subject
incubated a neoliberal subjectivity may have incorporated exodus as a positions of engaged actors.
new fixation of subject positions: While striving to halt adverse en-
vironmental change, mining opponents were compelled to consider Funding
evacuating the area, if background conditions deteriorated beyond a
turning point, which would compromise their ability to move. They This work was partly supported by the project “MEMOTRADE -
were gradually “freed” from place, by denying job security in the Social memory of water-related trades and practices: Local knowledge
mining sector, by rearranging social bonds, by considering exodus as an and climate change adaptation”, within the frame of CIRCLE-2 ERA-
option. Local activists were “freed” from place to resume responsibility NET (Adaptation to Climate Change from a natural and social science
for their auto-biography elsewhere, exactly because they had been perspective: Water in coastal Mediterranean areas). The funding was
successful in doing so while operating in the study area. Exodus would provided by the Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis Foundation for the
provide the best proof for the establishment of a neoliberal subjectivity, Environmental Sciences. The sponsor had no involvement in study de-
indeed, since mobility would restore the unity of such a resilient subject sign; collection, analysis and interpretation of data; the writing of the
after being “freed” from place (see also Foucault, 2008, p. 230; Elliott report; and the decision to submit the article for publication.
and Urry, 2010). Interestingly enough, the latent intention of anti-
mining activists to evacuate the area resembled the analogous latent Declaration of Competing Interest
strategy of the mining company itself.
None.
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgment
Although changes at the national scale may have substantial im-
plications for mining conflicts at the local scale, for instance in terms of I am grateful to interviewees and to Yannis Stavrakakis for his
political-institutional conditions (Engels, 2018), the present study support.
showcased that the discursive positioning of local actors determined
how the conflict has evolved locally, and most importantly, how it References
demarcated the subject positions of actors. Indeed, it has been reported
that governmentality discourses promoting an extractive imperative Adams, A.E., Shriver, T.E., 2017. Tactics and targets: explaining shifts in grassroots en-
can give rise to counter-discourses and subjectivities of local resistance vironmental resistance. Soc. Curr. 4, 265–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/
2329496516663225.
(Van Teijlingen, 2016). The complexity behind the discursive acts in the Aguilar-González, B., Navas, G., Brun, C., Aguilar-Umaña, A., Cerdán, P., 2018. Socio-
study area may explain why initiatives in the frame of corporate social ecological distribution conflicts in the mining sector in Guatemala (2005–2013): deep
responsibility alone cannot always suffice to address the causes of rooted injustice and weak environmental governance. Extr. Ind. Soc. 5, 240–254.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2018.02.002.
mining conflicts (Aguilar-González et al., 2018) or why place attach- Alpha TV, 2013. Documentary, 28 February 2013, duration: 97’44’’ [WWW Video]. URL.
ment can have mixed effects (Conde and Le Billon, 2017). The het- (Accessed 3.12.2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9VNnayS-L4.
erogeneity within and across local settings is also reflected in diverging Anshelm, J., Haikola, S., Wallsten, B., 2018. Politicizing environmental governance – A
117
T. Hovardas The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2020) 110–118
case study of heterogeneous alliances and juridical struggles around the Ojnare 10.1080/17524032.2017.1292938.
Forest, Sweden. Geoforum 91, 206–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2018. Hovardas, T., 2017b. “Battlefields” of blue flags and sea horses: Acts of fencing and de-
03.003. fencing place in a gold mining controversy. J. Environ. Psychol. 53, 100–111. https://
Anton, C.E., Lawrence, C., 2014. Home is where the heart is: the effect of place of re- doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.07.005.
sidence on place attachment and community participation. J. Environ. Psychol. 40, Laclau, E., Mouffe, C., 1985. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Verso, London.
451–461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.10.007. Laclau, E., Mouffe, C., 1987. Post-Marxism without apologies. New Left Rev. 166, 79–106.
Askland, H.H., 2018. A dying village: mining and the experiential condition of dis- Lemke, T., 2001. The birth of biopolitics: Michel Foucault’s lecture at the Collège de
placement. Extr. Ind. Soc. 5, 230–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2018.02.007. France on neo-liberal governmentality. Econ. Soc. 30, 190–207. https://doi.org/10.
Avci, D., 2017. Mining conflicts and transformative politics: A comparison of Intag 1080/03085140120042271.
(Ecuador) and Mount Ida (Turkey) environmental struggles. Geoforum 84, 316–325. Lindahl, K.B., Johansson, A., Zachrisson, A., Viklund, R., 2018. Competing pathways to
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.07.013. sustainability? Exploring conflicts over mine establishments in the Swedish mountain
Broto, V.C., Buriningham, K., Carter, C., Elghali, L., 2010. Stigma and attachment: per- region. J. Environ. Manage. 218, 402–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.
formance of identity in an environmental degraded place. Soc. Nat. Recour. 23, 04.063.
952–968. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920802705776. Luhmann, N., 1990. Risiko und Gefahr. In: Luhmann, N. (Ed.), Konstruktivistische
Calvário, R., Velegrakis, G., Kaika, M., 2017. The Political ecology of austerity: an ana- Perspektiven: Soziologische Aufklärung V. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen, pp.
lysis of socio-environmental conflict under crisis in Greece. Capital. Nat. Social. 28, 131–169.
69–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2016.1260147. Mayes, R., McDonald, P., Pini, B., 2014. ‘Our’ community: Corporate social responsibility,
Christoffersen, M.G., 2018. Risk, danger, and trust: refining the relational theory of risk. neoliberalisation, and mining industry community engagement in rural Australia.
J. Risk Res. 21, 1233–1247. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2017.1301538. Environ. Plan. A 46, 398–413. https://doi.org/10.1068/a45676.
Conde, M., 2017. Resistance to mining: a review. Ecol. Econ. 132, 80–90. https://doi.org/ Montiel, C.J., De Guzman, J., 2011. Intergroup positioning in the political sphere: con-
10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.08.025. testing the social meaning of a peace agreement. J. Theory Soc. Behav. 41, 92–116.
Conde, M., Le Billon, P., 2017. Why do some communities resist mining projects while https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.2010.00447.x.
others do not? Extr. Ind. Soc. 3, 681–697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2017.04. Mouffe, C., 1992. Feminism, citizenship and radical democratic politics. In: Butler, J.,
009. Scott, J.W. (Eds.), Feminists Theorize the Political. Routledge, New York, pp.
Dardot, P., Laval, C., 2017. The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society, trans. G. 369–385.
Elliott. Verso, London. Nygaard, V., 2016. Do indigenous interests have a say in planning of new mining pro-
Davies, B., Harré, R., 1990. Positioning: the discursive production of selves. J. Theory Soc. jects? Experiences from Finnmark, Norway. Extr. Ind. Soc. 3, 17–24. https://doi.org/
Behav. 20, 43–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.1990.tb00174.x. 10.1016/j.exis.2015.11.009.
De Dominicis, S., Fornara, F., Cancellieri, U.G., Twigger-Ross, C., Bonaiuto, M., 2015. We Özen, H., Özen, Ş., 2017. What makes locals protesters? A discursive analysis of two cases
are at risk, and so what? Place attachment, environmental risk perceptions and in gold-mining industry in Turkey. World Dev. 90, 256–268. https://doi.org/10.
preventive coping behaviours. J. Environ. Psychol. 43, 66–78. https://doi.org/10. 1080/09644010902823766.
1016/j.jenvp.2015.05.010. Potter, J., 1996. Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric, and Social Construction. Sage,
Devine-Wright, P., 2009. Rethinking NIMBYism: the role of place attachment and place London.
identity in explaining place-protective action. J. Community Appl. Soc. Psychol. 19, Rajak, D., 2014. Corporate memory: historical revisionism, legitimation and the invention
426–441. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.1004. of tradition in a multinational mining company. Polit. Leg. Anthropol. Rev. 37,
Elliott, A., Urry, J., 2010. Mobile Lives. Routledge, London. 259–280. https://doi.org/10.1111/plar.12074.
Engels, B., 2018. Nothing will be as before: shifting political opportunity structures in J. Rancière . Proletarian Nights: the Workers’ Dream in Nineteenth Century France, 1981/
protests against gold mining in Burkina Faso. Extr. Ind. Soc. 5, 354–362. https://doi. 2012, Verso London.
org/10.1016/j.exis.2018.01.001. Rancière, J., 1992. Politics, Identification, and Subjectivization. October 61. pp. 58–64.
Epsilon, 2013. Documentary, 1 March 2013, duration: 7’10’’ [WWW Video]. URL. https://www.jstor.org/stable/778785.
(Accessed 3.12.2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKPQc6K0LIE. Rasborg, K., 2012. ‘(World) Risk Society’ or ‘New Rationalities of Risk’? A Critical
ERT3, 2013. TV panel, 15 June 2013, duration: 50’22’’ [WWW Video]. URL. (Accessed Discussion of Ulrich Beck’s Theory of Reflexive Modernity. Thesis Eleven 108. pp.
3.12.2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4cSV28ORfY. 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513611421479.
ERT3, 2015a. Documentary, 16 September 2015,duration: 55’5’’ [WWW Video]. URL. Ritzer, G., 2011. Sociological Theory, 8th edition. McGraw-Hill, New York.
(Accessed 3.12.2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0E5zP6-d4Q. Roche, C., Sindana, H., Walim, N., Wafi, Watut Communities, 2019. Extractive
ERT3, 2015b. Documentary, 30 September 2015, duration: 44’44’’ [WWW Video]. URL. Dispossession: “I am not happy our land will go, we will have no better life”. Extr.
(Accessed 3.12.2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v= Ind. Soc. 6, 977–992. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2019.05.006.
VfWa7hbv3X8. Russell, L.D., Babrow, A.S., 2011. Risk in the making: narrative, problematic integration,
ERT3, 2015c. TV panel, 14 October 2015, duration: 113’30’’ [WWW Video]. URL. and the social construction of risk. Commun. Theory 21, 239–260. https://doi.org/
(Accessed 3.12.2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_bEAYc29eM. 10.1111/j.1468-2885.2011.01386.x.
Fairhurst, G.T., Putnam, L.L., 2018. An integrative methodology for organizational op- Slocum, N., Van Langenhove, L., 2003. Integration speak: introducing positioning theory
positions: aligning grounded theory and discourse analysis. Organ. Res. Methods. in regional integration studies. In: Harrè, R., Moghaddam, F. (Eds.), The Self and
https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428118776771. Others: Positioning Individuals and Groups in Personal, Political and Cultural
Foucault, F., 2008. The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979, Contexts. Praeger, London, pp. 219–234.
trans. G. Burchell. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Strauss, A., Corbin, J.M., 1990. Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory
Gramsci, A., 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. Translated and edited by Procedures and Techniques. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith. International Publishers, New York. Tsavdaroglou, C., Petrakos, K., Makrygianni, V., 2017. The golden “salto mortale” in the
Haikola, S., Anshelm, J., 2016. Mineral policy at a crossroads? Critical reflections on the era of crisis: Primitive accumulation and local and urban struggle in the case of
challenges with expanding Sweden’s mining sector. Extr. Ind. Soc. 3, 508–516. Skouries gold mining in Greece. City 21, 428–447. https://doi.org/10.1080/
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2016.01.008. 13604813.2017.1331563.
Harrè, R., Slocum, N., 2003. Disputes as complex social events: on the uses of positioning Van Teijlingen, K., 2016. The ‘will to improve’ at the mining frontier: Neo-extractivism,
theory. In: Harrè, R., Moghaddam, F. (Eds.), The Self and Others: Positioning development and governmentality in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Extr. Ind. Soc. 4,
Individuals and Groups in Personal, Political and Cultural Contexts. Praeger, London, 902–911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2016.10.009.
pp. 123–137. Velicu, I., 2019. De-growing environmental justice: reflections from anti-mining move-
Harré, R., Van Langenhove, L., 1991. Varieties of positioning. J. Theory Soc. Behav. 21, ments in Eastern Europe. Ecol. Econ. 159, 271–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
393–407. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.1991.tb00203.x. ecolecon.2019.01.021.
Harré, R., Moghaddam, F.M., Cairnie, T.P., Rothbart, D., Sabat, S.R., 2009. Recent ad- Velicu, I., Kaika, M., 2017. Undoing environmental justice: Re-imagining equality in the
vances in positioning theory. Theory Psychol. 19, 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/ Rosia Montana anti-mining movement. Geoforum 84, 305–315. https://doi.org/10.
0959354308101417. 1016/j.geoforum.2015.10.012.
Harvey, D., 1990. The Condition of Postmodernity. An Enquiry Into the Origins of Versalon, L., Creţan, R., 2013. Cyanide kills! Environmental movements and the con-
Cultural Change. Blackwell, Cambridge. struction of environmental risk at Roşia Montană, Romania. Area 45, 443–451.
Hatzisavvidou, S., 2017. Disputatious rhetoric and political change: the case of the Greek https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12049.
anti-mining movement. Polit. Stud. 65, 215–230. https://doi.org/10.1177/ Wetherell, M., 1998. Positioning and interpretative repertoires: conversation analysis and
0032321715624425. poststructuralism in dialogue. Discourse Soc. 9, 387–412. https://doi.org/10.1177/
Hovardas, T., 2017a. Gold mining in the Greek “village of Gaul”: Newspaper coverage of 0957926598009003005.
conflict and discourse coalitions. Environ. Commun. 11, 667–681. https://doi.org/
118