The University of Arizona Press
Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2027
Time: 6 p.m., MST
Where: Tumamoc Hill Boathouse, 1675 W Anklam Rd, Tucson
Free: Please RSVP here
a Diné (Navajo) geographer and author of Carbon Sovereignty: Coal, Development, and Energy Transition, will speak about the book on April 14 as part of the Tumamoc Author Series. Drawing from his acclaimed book, Curley explores how Indigenous nations have been entangled in—and have resisted—extractive economies built to serve distant cities and industries. Through vivid storytelling and grounded research, Carbon Sovereignty reveals how coal development shaped Navajo sovereignty, livelihoods, and environmental futures, and what those lessons mean for today’s climate crisis. Curley will also discuss his current research on the Colorado River, one of the most over-allocated and contested rivers in the world. Moving beyond drought-only narratives, he examines how colonial laws, dams, and infrastructure have defined the river as a resource to be controlled, often erasing Indigenous water rights and relationships in the process.
This talk will be held at the boathouse, at the base of Tumamoc Hill. The event is presented by Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill, The University of Arizona Press, and The Southwest Center, and is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase, and the author will be available for signing following the talk. Please RSVP here.
About the book:
For almost fifty years, coal dominated the Navajo economy. But in 2019 one of the Navajo Nation’s largest coal plants closed.
This comprehensive new works offers a deep dive into the complex inner workings of energy shift on the Navajo Nation. Geographer Andrew Curley, a member of the Navajo Nation, examines the history of coal development on the Navajo Nation, including why some Diné supported coal and the consequences of doing so. He explains the Navajo Nation’s strategic choices to use the coal industry to support its sovereignty as a path forward in the face of ongoing colonialism. Carbon Sovereignty demonstrates the mechanism of capitalism through colonialism and the construction of resource sovereignty, in both the Navajo Nation’s embrace and its rejection of a coal economy.
For the people of the Navajo Nation, energy sovereignty is dire and personal. Thanks to on-the ground interviews with Diné coal workers, environmental activists, and politicians, Curley documents the real consequences of change as they happened.
