The Bakken Blind Field: Investigating Planetary Urbanization and Opaqueness in the Oil and Gas Fields of Eastern Montana

Abstract

This work advances the critical urban studies literature on “planetary urbanization” by emphasizing the everyday struggles experienced by the people who live in and through planetary transformations. Specifically, we empirically investigated people in eastern Montana who experienced the intensive and extensive oil and gas production of the Bakken Boom via interview and survey data. In the process, we interrogated Lefebvre’s notion of the “blind field” and conclude that what we call the Bakken blind field represents a deeply engrained “habit of the mind” that functions for the energy industry as a means of neutralizing the transformative potential that always lurks in response to persistent socioenvironmentally exploitative practices. We suggest that the degree of illumination that results from personal hardships can determine the degree to which local exploitation is rejected (or accepted) as a necessary result of living with oil and gas.