The Impact of Opportunity: Reflections of a TASA 2024 Bursary Recipient by Jye Batham
I was lucky enough to attend and present at TASA 2024 in Boorloo/Perth, my first TASA Conference, thanks to a generous TASA postgraduate bursary.
With about six months until I submit my PhD thesis, TASA 2024 was a fantastic opportunity to present some initial findings of my research on the politics of fracking discourses in the Northern Territory. The focus of my research is on the ways in which Tamboran Resources Corporation, the gas exploration and production company with the largest stake in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Sub-Basin, discursively construct their organisational identity, their activities in the Beetaloo (which involves hydraulic fracturing), and the development of gas. More specifically, I’m interested in how power is implicated in such discursive practices.
In my presentation, “Fracking” Climate Politics: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing in the Northern Territory, which contributed to TASA’s Environment and Society stream, I highlighted the ways in which Tamboran Resources strategically draw on three key story-lines in their online representations, and in their representations to government, to construct a discourse of fracking aimed at developing and maintaining legitimacy for their fossil-fuel based accumulation strategies in the context of global climate crisis. The three story-lines drawn on were economic development, energy security, and climate change action. At the same time as presenting their activities as contributing to these three areas, Tamboran omit the contribution to the climate crisis that methane emissions will make from the processing and transportation of their fracked Beetaloo Basin gas. The potential impacts on ground water, seismicity, local pollution, and First Nations land rights from fracking in the Beetaloo is also omitted in Tamboran’s discourses. The normalisation of such discourses is evident in Tamboran’s ties to and support from the Northern Territory government and individual ministers, current and former, as well as the company’s sponsorship of regional sporting clubs, and indicates a reproduction of fossil fuel hegemony and practices of symbolic violence.
I was fortunate to share my presentation slot with other fantastic sociologists conducting research in the environment and society space. This included fellow Swinburne PhD candidate Melanie Winter, who presented her research on the importance of place and narrative in understanding rural communities’ relationship with their environment, as well as Dr Nooshin Torabi, whose work contributes to a better understanding of how households’ food waste and food management practices are mediated by the production and distribution of knowledge.
I thoroughly enjoyed the postgraduate day, which kicked off the conference week, and involved several workshops and seminars aimed at improving the link between creative and critical thinking (Richard Calladine), developing your academic network (Crystal Abidin), presenting your research (Chantelle Leach) and others oriented towards demystifying the field for early career academics. The day provided a great opportunity to meet fellow early career sociologists from across the continent (and the planet!) and share research interests, insights and solidarity around the shared struggles (and joys!) of completing a PhD project.
The rest of the conference provided much more such opportunities, in addition to consistently brilliant presentation and panel sessions that always felt relaxed and supportive, generated lively discussions and engagement, and grappled with some of the greatest social challenges in history (a standout for me was a panel session titled Living Now: Youth Advocates and Activists). The social events I attended (queer and allied drinks, plus ad-hoc post-conference drinks) made for a healthy decompression after all the scholarly engagement.
I’d like to extend my congratulations to TASA for organising such a brilliant conference for 2024, as well as my gratitude for the bursary, which covered my attendance and helped fund my expenses. I look forward to attending and presenting again.
