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Paper short abstract

This paper analyses storytelling of anti-mining activists against resource extraction projects in natural heritage sites. Such narratives are a response strategy to new mining sites in the OECD.

Paper long abstract

This article analyses the work of anti-mining initiatives and storytelling about preserving natural heritage sites. How activists talk about resumed resource extraction projects can be seen as a response strategy to narratives about resource extraction from (local) political and corporate sides. Mining in OECD countries is highly controversial and is currently experiencing a renaissance for reasons that lead to narrative conflicts; especially in heritage sites. Motives in this context include the implementation of digital strategies and the planned transition to “green” energy, as pursued in the global North.

This article compares narratives and knowledge generation in the context of extractive politics in two regions: the border region between Germany and Czechia, where there is a large lithium deposit, and the Alpine National Park on the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand for gold and coal. We trace the activation of a universal language of justification for resource extraction and equally universal, albeit deeply local, narratives that emerged from engagement with the environment and concepts of nature. The article argues that narratives about contested natural sites and resources are evocative on several levels: they draw on a traditional vision of untouched, magical purity that contrasts with an imagined dystopian future of destruction. The research is based on interviews, media analysis, and participant observation.