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Financialization, indigenous resistance and the case of deep seabed mining in American Samoa
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DOI：10.1016/j.exis.2026.101874.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
In this research, we draw on indigenous Pacific Studies and financialization theory to analyse a case of proposed deep-seabed mining (DSM) in American Samoa. While Samoan political philosophy counsels the 'wisdom of restraint' regarding ocean management, investors have rapidly imbued the minerals found in and on the deep seabed with speculative value through an expansion of federal leasing regimes, tariff wars with China, and Silicon Valley technological hype, even as the location of the proposed lease surrounds sacred sites in Samoan and indigenous Pacific history. With several firms' interest in a DSM license in the foreground, we situate this contemporary round of extractivism in the territorial relationship between American Samoa and the United States. We describe how generations of American Samoan matai (chiefs) have shaped a unique relationship with the United States founded in indigenous governance of land and sea; and the uncertainties that surround a proposed DSM lease. We show that mining firm claims that DSM in American Samoa could yield revenue streams similar to those of Norway's North Sea oil regime are completely false. Due to the low market value critical minerals, high extraction and environmental costs, and lack of compensation being offered to the American Samoa people, this proposed lease does not begin to approach a just compensation standard. We conclude that proposed mining is inconsistent with indigenous Samoan practices, and with the just compensation standard referenced in the Treaty of Cessions, both of which are protected by law.
Keywords:
American Samoa
Deep seabed mining
Financialization
Indigenous
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