Abstract

This article develops the concept of energyscapes to examine the production, governance, and transformation of socio-material spaces for tar sands extraction, distribution, and consumption in Canada. We argue that energyscapes is a helpful concept to understand the key but understudied role of competing material-discursive practices in shaping tar sands spaces. Connecting research on energy geographies, settler colonialism, and political ecology, this work considers settler and Indigenous assertions of jurisdiction over land as key drivers of tar sands spaces. Through the lens of energyscapes, we analyze the dispute over the controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project (TMX) in British Columbia and Alberta between the federal government and a First Nations-led movement. Using document analysis and participant observation, we discuss the influence of conflicting land claims, discourses on fossil fuels, and knowledge systems in (re)producing and disrupting the physical spaces and sociopolitical arenas through which the TMX is governed. A focus on the political ecology of struggles against tar sands infrastructures opens research avenues to explore the challenges of dismantling the colonial and capitalist logics underpinning tar sands spaces.

Keywords: Energyscapes, tar sands spaces, Canada, fossil fuel infrastructures, land dispossession

How to Cite:

Castillo Jara, E. & Bruns, A., (2026) “The production of unequal energyscapes: Contested colonial spaces for tar sands development in Canada”, Journal of Political Ecology 33(1): 6451. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.6451