PMS Pantone CMYK PMS 152+4mm 17.5mm 152+4mm B RGS-IBG BOOK SERIES Royal ‘Material Politics offers something new and original to our understanding of the global oil and gas a Geographical industry. Barry locates his study of pipelines at the theoretic intersection of critical science studies, rry Society forms of rule, and the materiality of resources. He brilliantly exposes the complex controversies with IBG produced by actors and agents across the industry’s value-chain, and what they say about how we think about democracy and capitalism.’ Advancing geography and geographical learning Michael Watts, Class of 1963 Professor of Geography, University of California, Berkeley ‘In this strong and daring book, Andrew Barry compellingly shows that it is a daunting task to govern the materials that make up a transnational oil pipeline, that the production of information made to foster transparency and calm may fuel ever more controversies, and that materials are not in themselves political, but may well become so.’ Annemarie Mol, Professor of Anthropology of the Body, University of Amsterdam M MATERIAL POLITICS A Geography and social theory are increasingly recognising the critical role of material artefacts in T political life. No longer can we think of materials as the passive, stable and inert foundation on which E disputes emerge; rather, the unpredictable and lively behaviour of material objects and environments R has become integral to the conduct of politics. In Material Politics, Andrew Barry develops this IA argument further, directing us towards an intriguing paradox. For just as we are beginning to attend L to the importance of materials in political life, the existence of materials has become increasingly P bound up with the production of information about their performance, origins and impact. Political O disputes have come to revolve not around objects in isolation, but objects that are entangled in ever L growing quantities of information. I 2 T 2 DISPUTES ALONG 9 Material Politics traces the emergence of disputes about an object, an oil pipeline, about which IC +6 an unprecedented quantity of information was made public. Following the collapse of the Soviet S THE PIPELINE m m Union, the development of the 1760km Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean was a remarkable experiment in transparency and corporate social responsibility. Yet far from reducing the level of controversy surrounding the pipeline’s construction, the transparency of the project engendered a proliferation of apparently minor disputes about issues ranging from public consultation procedures and the location of beehives and walnut trees to the putative connection between the construction of the pipeline and bombsites, landslides and damage to houses. The politics of the pipeline turns out to be not just a story of oil companies, nation states and activists; it also encompasses consultants’ and engineers’ reports, archaeological sites, documentary fi lms, steel and chemicals, cracks and corrosion, and mundane objects – trees, lorries and houses. Materials, we might say, lie at the heart of the eruption of situations that both animate and transform political life. Andrew Barry is Professor of Human Geography at University College London. Andrew Barry Material Politics RGS-IBG Book Series Spaces of Colonialism: Delhi’s Urban Governmentalities Stephen Legg Published People/States/Territories Material Politics: Disputes Along the Pipeline Rhys Jones Andrew Barry Publics and the City Everyday Moral Economies: Food, Politics and Scale in Cuba Kurt Iveson Marisa Wilson After the Three Italies: Wealth, Inequality and Industrial Change Working Lives – Gender, Migration and Employment in Britain, 1945–2007 Mick Dunford and Lidia Greco Linda McDowell Putting Workfare in Place Fashioning Globalisation: New Zealand Design, Working Women and the Peter Sunley, Ron Martin and Corinne Nativel Cultural Economy Domicile and Diaspora Maureen Molloy and Wendy Larner Alison Blunt Dunes: Dynamics, Morphology and Geological History Geographies and Moralities Andrew Warren Edited by Roger Lee and David M. Smith Spatial Politics: Essays for Doreen Massey Edited by David Featherstone and Joe Painter Military Geographies Rachel Woodward The Improvised State: Sovereignty, Performance and Agency in Dayton Bosnia Alex Jeffrey A New Deal for Transport? Edited by Iain Docherty and Jon Shaw Learning the City: Knowledge and Translocal Assemblage Colin McFarlane Geographies of British Modernity Edited by David Gilbert, David Matless Globalizing Responsibility: The Political Rationalities of Ethical Consumption and Brian Short Clive Barnett, Paul Cloke, Nick Clarke and Alice Malpass Lost Geographies of Power Domesticating Neo-Liberalism: Spaces of Economic Practice and Social John Allen Reproduction in Post-Socialist Cities Globalizing South China Alison Stenning, Adrian Smith, Alena Rochovská Carolyn L. Cartier and Dariusz Świątek Geomorphological Processes and Landscape Change: Britain in the Swept Up Lives? Re-envisioning the Homeless City Last 1000 Years Paul Cloke, Jon May and Sarah Johnsen Edited by David L. Higgitt and E. Mark Lee Aerial Life: Spaces, Mobilities, Affects Peter Adey Forthcoming Millionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific Life Lines Smoking Geographies: Space, Place and Tobacco David Ley Ross Barnett, Graham Moon, Jamie Pearce, State, Science and the Skies: Governmentalities of the British Atmosphere Lee Thompson and Liz Twigg Mark Whitehead Peopling Immigration Control: Geographies of Governing and Activism Complex Locations: Women’s Geographical Work in the UK 1850–1970 in the British Asylum System Avril Maddrell Nick Gill Value Chain Struggles: Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Geopolitics and Expertise: Knowledge and Authority in Districts of South India European Diplomacy Jeff Neilson and Bill Pritchard Merje Kuus Queer Visibilities: Space, Identity and Interaction in Cape Town The Geopolitics of Expertise In the Nature of Landscape: Cultural Andrew Tucker Geography on the Norfolk Broads Arsenic Pollution: A Global Synthesis David Matless Peter Ravenscroft, Hugh Brammer and Keith Richards Rehearsing the State: The Political Practices of the Tibetan Resistance, Space and Political Identities: The Making of Counter-Global Networks Government-in-Exile David Featherstone Fiona McConnell Mental Health and Social Space: Towards Inclusionary Geographies? Frontier Regions of Marketization: Agribusiness, Farmers, and the Hester Parr Precarious Making of Global Connections in West Africa Stefan Ouma Climate and Society in Colonial Mexico: A Study in Vulnerability Georgina H. Endfield Articulations of Capital: Global Production Networks and Regional Transformations Geochemical Sediments and Landscapes John Pickles, Adrian Smith & Robert Begg, with Edited by David J. Nash and Sue J. McLaren Milan Buček, Rudolf Pástor and Poli Roukova Driving Spaces: A Cultural-Historical Geography of England’s M1 Motorway Origination: The Geographies of Brands and Branding Peter Merriman Andy Pike Badlands of the Republic: Space, Politics and Urban Policy Making Other Worlds: Agency and Interaction in Environmental Mustafa Dikeç Change Geomorphology of Upland Peat: Erosion, Form and Landscape Change John Wainwright Martin Evans and Jeff Warburton Material Politics Disputes Along the Pipeline Andrew Barry This edition first published 2013 © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Registered Office John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK Editorial Offices 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. The right of Andrew Barry to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author(s) have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barry, Andrew, 1960– Material politics : disputes along the pipeline / Andrew Barry. pages cm Includes index. ISBN 978-1-118-52911-9 (hardback) – ISBN 978-1-118-52912-6 (paper) 1. Geopolitics. 2. Materials–Political aspects. 3. Material culture–Political aspects. 4. Petroleum pipelines–Political aspects. 5. International economic relations–Political aspects. I. Title. JC319.B39 2013 320.1′2–dc23 2013018241 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover image: © Andrew Barry Cover design by Workhaus Set in 10/12pt Plantin by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India 1 2013 For Georgie Contents Series Editors’ Preface viii List of Figures and Tables ix Acknowledgements x Abbreviations xiii 1 Introduction 1 2 The Georgian Route: Between Political and Physical Geography 31 3 Transparency’s Witness 57 4 Ethical Performances 75 5 The Affected Public 95 6 Visible Impacts 116 7 Material Politics 137 8 Economy and the Archive 154 9 Conclusions 177 Notes 187 References 202 Index 235 Series Editors’ Preface The RGS-IBG Book Series only publishes work of the highest international standing. Its emphasis is on distinctive new developments in human and physical geography, although it is also open to contributions from cognate disciplines whose interests overlap with those of geographers. The Series places strong emphasis on theoretically-informed and empirically-strong texts. Reflecting the vibrant and diverse theoretical and empirical agendas that characterize the contemporary discipline, contributions are expected to inform, challenge and stimulate the reader. Overall, the RGS-IBG Book Series seeks to promote scholarly publications that leave an intellectual mark and change the way readers think about particular issues, methods or theories. For details on how to submit a proposal please visit: www.rgsbookseries.com Neil Coe National University of Singapore Joanna Bullard Loughborough University, UK RGS-IBG Book Series Editors