Structuring a Conversation Across Time, Space and Political Distance

This article examines challenges to the construction of climate solidarity between different social actors in and beyond the petroleum industry, using the vantage point of oil workers. Theoretically, we use the notion of alienation to show how oil workers experience challenges to climate solidarity with different potential allies. We argue that oil workers have become polarized subjects in the politics of climate change mitigation, and acknowledge the need for a politics of reconnection between this polarized subject and various designated ‘others’, albeit one that is cognizant of the power asymmetries of these relations. Through innovative qualitative methods, we explore ways to help the social and political distance between research subjects. We detail how an ongoing research project has explored a politics of reconnection through the production of four short films. We conclude by offering some evaluative reflections on this exercise.