Critical Review of Unsubmissive Ecologies: Antagonisms to the Geontopower of Oil Extraction

Abstract

Unsubmissive Ecologies by Mauricio González offers a critical  book that denounces fracking in the Huasteca-Totonacapan region through a combination of geopolitical analysis and engaged ethnography. Structured in four analytical blocks, the book moves from a detailed account of the Aceite Terciario del Golfo project to a profound reflection on the ontological and cosmopolitical dimensions of maseual-tutunaku resistance. González employs a militant, theoretical, and empirical approach that interweaves geontopower with maseual vernacular technologies as antagonistic ways of life. The work takes a critical stance on Mexico’s Fourth Transformation, exposing contradictions between official environmental discourse and systemic dispossession. While the book successfully integrates political ecology, ontology, and cosmopolitics, it is limited by the lack of critique of autonomist particularism and raises questions about the political viability of unsubmissive ecologies beyond the local scale. Nonetheless, it stands as a valuable contribution to ongoing debates on the Anthropocene, territorial resistance, and imagining worlds beyond fossil capital.