(Resisting) extractivism

: (De)legitimising onshore oil in London's commuter belt

Abstract

Despite the unfolding climate crisis and local ecological, geological and social concerns, multiple unconventional oil and gas developments were proposed across the South and Southeast of England throughout the 2010s. This thesis follows the environmental, epistemic and political struggle that accompanied the development of the Horse Hill oil site in Surrey, centred around the council’s approval of twenty years of oil production in 2019 and the events that followed over the subsequent five years. Rooted in long-term observant participation with the community opposing the development, this thesis traces the actions and reactions from the industry, council and campaigners to understand the registers and relations of power through which Horse Hill Oil – and the extractivist systems, relations, practices and logics that inform it – have been legitimised and delegitimised from above and below. Informed by Feminist Political Ecology approaches, extractivism and resistance is explored in relation to gender performance, knowledge, relational ontologies and emotion.
Across three empirical chapters the thesis draws from distinct materials and responsive, multi-dimensional methodological approaches. A feminist critical discourse analysis of resource-making events finds that petro-masculinities including ‘frontier cowboy’ and ‘eco-modern’ are rhetorically and contextually performed to render Horse Hill Oil available and desirable for investment and extraction. Interviews with campaigners reveal epistemic injustices at the heart of industry tactics to manage dissent and manufacture consent, including the strategic discrediting of critical voices to downgrade and dismiss legitimate concerns. Despite and because of these repressive tactics from above, campaigners successfully continue to mobilise and organise. The final chapter is a personal, auto-ethnographic response to the logics and practices of extractivism through creative and emotion-informed enquiry, exploring relations and practices with the land and more-than-human Horse Hill community which gently subvert and delegitimise extractivism. The thesis highlights ongoing, multi-dimensional and relational challenges and possibilities for justice, democracy and socio-ecological resilience.

Date of Award	Apr 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton
Supervisor	Kirsten Jenkins (Supervisor), Rebecca Elmhirst (Supervisor) & Mary Darking (Supervisor)