Publication Date

9-1-2026

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Extractive Industries and Society

Volume

27

DOI

10.1016/j.exis.2026.101949

Abstract

Extractivism faces interlocking crises of its own making. Extractive governance has failed to foster democratic, socially just, and ecologically sustainable political economies. The expansion of extractive zones has provoked surging conflicts across the world over access to and control over life-giving resources like land, air, and water. The devastating socio-ecological ramifications inherent in extractivism have gone global, as exemplified by the climate crisis. Despite growing recognition of these crises of extractivism, ideologically diverse governments, corporations, and civil society organizations have consistently doubled down on extractivist solutions. This special issue interrogates the crises of, contradictory solutions for, and potential alternatives to extractivism. Inspired by a critical cultural political economy (CCPE) approach, this special issue highlights how understanding and resisting contemporary extractive politics require analyses of the mutually constituting materialities, political economies, and ideologies that make extractivism possible and meaningful. This introduction to the special issue reviews the importance of material-semiotic analyses of extractivism. Weaving together key insights from across the special issue contributors, it emphasizes how such approaches help us re-imagine and forge alternatives to overlapping extractive crises.

Keywords

Climate change, Critical cultural political economy, Critical minerals, Extractivism, Green energy transition, Imaginaries

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Communication Studies

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