Lesson 13: Keystone XL Pipeline and Native American Activism

This lesson was designed by Ashley Nicole McCray, member of the Oglala Lakota and Absentee Shawnee Tribes, Ph.D student in the History of Science, Technology, & Medicine, Graduate Assistant in Women's & Gender Studies and Graduate Student Research Fellow in the Center for Social Justice.  If you have further questions about this section, or if you are interested in learning more, you may feel free to contact her at thehuxley6@ou.edu.

Note: Since Ms. McCray wrote this lesson, there have been protests at Standing Rock (in North Dakota) against the Dakota Access pipeline. These protests are ongoing. I have supplemented this module with several articles about the Standing Rock protests.

Content Warning: *environmental destruction, *colonialism, *rape, *genocide

This section will explore climate change from a Lakota perspective. Herein, you will see one way in which history of science, specifically indigenous knowledge, can be used as a tool for activism. This component will entail intersectional, interdisciplinary, and alternative approaches to understanding climate change from an indigenous perspective, Keystone XL pipeline (KXL), environmentalism, reproductive justice, and indigenous activism. You will first be asked to read an overview of the KXL battle from a Lakota perspective. You will then be provided with reading materials from activist networks who have centered their work around this issue. In this overview and as much as possible throughout this section, we will pay special attention to the Lakota, who have been central and diligent in their activism against KXL. In addition to more traditional approaches to understanding questions, you will also be provided with memes, music videos, and political cartoons to gain a better understanding of this perspective. Please keep an open mind while exploring this section. It will be necessary for us to begin by shifting our lens away from colonized, western perspectives.