Dissertation Defense: Ryan Rybka

Ryan Rybka
Friday, October 17, 2025
9:30am-12:30 pm
Machmer E20 and Zoom: https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/92328059708

Title: Digging for Oil: An Archaeology of the Line 3 Replacement Pipeline in northern Minnesota

Abstract: 
Enbridge crude oil pipelines have been operational on Anishinaabe treaty lands in northern Minnesota for over 70 years, transporting oil from Alberta through Minnesota to refineries in Wisconsin. The construction of a new pipeline in 2015- the Line 3 Replacement Pipeline (L3R)- sparked large-scale social unrest. Indigenous and non-Indigenous Water Protectors joined together in civil disobedience to halt its construction due to its violations of Indigenous sovereignty and its potential for environmental impacts. Despite these efforts, on October 1st, 2021, the L3R construction was finished and began transporting oil. Influence of this pipeline is omnipresent in daily life; yet, as an object it remains inaccessible to both locals and researchers. Impossibly large and invisible to the eye, hidden just five feet below the ground surface, L3R is an example of what Timoty Morton calls a ‘Hyperobject’. While such a large and unwieldly object may resist traditional archaeological methods, recent studies have shown how archaeology can be usefully drawn on to explore the history and relations of the Anthropocene- our current epoch of environmental and cultural instability. This dissertation is an archaeology of L3R that explores how communities navigate along this pipeline route by tracing scattered clues, histories, and gaps to shed light on what lies beneath and ahead