This paper represents a “studying-up” of the controversy over federal regulatory processes regarding protection of Lakota and Dakota cultural heritage in permitting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). To analyse this controversy, I engage with interest-convergence theory, a component of Critical Race Theory, alongside a critique of its arguably simplistic definition of “white interests.” Agreeing that we need a finer-grained understanding of elite interests as multiple, conflicting, and not always based purely in material self-interest, I argue that interests should be understood as nonhuman components of elite assemblages, shaped by both emotions and societal ideologies yet constrained by – and in conflict with – top-down, ideology-driven missions and institutional cultural norms, as well as pressure from other assemblages. I use this framework to examine conflicts within and among various elite assemblages’ interests surrounding Lakota and Dakota cultural heritage. The US Army Corps of Engineers’ emotion- and ideology-driven interests in demonstrating sensitivity to tribes’ concerns were constrained by their mission-driven interests in accomplishing duties in a timely manner. These interests, in turn, conflicted with concerns (or lack thereof) manifested by other federal entities (Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, DC District Court) about DAPL’s impacts on cultural heritage, and with the company’s and federal government’s financial interests in pressuring USACE to enable completion of the pipeline’s construction. I unpack power differentials and dynamics among these various groups, as realised through particular interpretations and implementations of relevant legislation. I suggest that examining such “conflicts of interests” within and between elite assemblages, within the legal production of space, can elucidate controversies over industrial expansion’s socio-environmental threats.

中文翻译：

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空间合法生产中精英群体内部和之间的“利益冲突”：土著文化遗产保护和达科他州通道管道

本文代表了对联邦监管程序争议的“研究”，该程序涉及在允许达科他州输水管道 (DAPL) 中保护拉科他州和达科他州文化遗产。为了分析这场争论，我参与了利益趋同理论，这是批判种族理论的一个组成部分，同时对其对“白人利益”的简单定义进行了批评。我同意我们需要更细粒度地理解精英利益是多重的、相互冲突的，而且并不总是纯粹基于物质上的自我利益，我认为利益应该被理解为精英群体的非人类组成部分，由情感和社会意识形态共同塑造受到自上而下、意识形态驱动的使命和制度文化规范以及来自其他群体的压力的约束——并与之相冲突。我使用这个框架来研究围绕拉科他和达科他文化遗产的各种精英群体内部和之间的冲突。美国陆军工程兵团在表现出对部落关切的敏感性方面的情感和意识形态驱动的利益受到他们及时完成职责的任务驱动利益的限制。反过来，这些利益与其他联邦实体（历史保护咨询委员会，华盛顿特区地方法院）对 DAPL 对文化遗产的影响所表现出的担忧（或缺乏关注）相冲突，并且与公司和联邦政府在向 USACE 施压时的经济利益相冲突。能够完成管道的建设。我解开这些不同群体之间的权力差异和动态，通过对相关立法的特定解释和实施来实现。我建议，在空间的合法生产范围内，研究精英群体内部和精英群体之间的这种“利益冲突”，可以阐明关于工业扩张的社会环境威胁的争议。