Relating to Oil Differently: Seneca Nation Oil Springs Territory and the 400 Year Anniversary of Oil “Discovery” in North America

In 1627 a French missionary documented being led by Seneca guides to the oil springs in what is today Southwestern New York, in what would become the first European record of crude oil in North America.

This proposed research workshop will focus on developing a broad program of engagement with the upcoming 400-year anniversary of this record at what is today the Seneca Nation Oil Springs Territory just 1.5 hours’ drive south of UB’s campus. The 1627 account of Friar Joseph de La Roche Daillon is a foundational and symbolic historical event in cultural, technological, and environmental history of our modern relationships to and dependence on oil. While fossil fuels have dramatically changed the world, crude oil narratives have largely ignored Indigenous presence, practices, and respectful relations with petroleum. Our focus is to interrogate the Western techno-cultural assumption that because oil exists it should be put to work as fuel laboring for humans. What other kinds of oil relations can there be?

This research workshop will draw upon Dr. Elia Vargas’ critical and creative rethinking of oil histories, Dr. Jason Corwin’s land-based knowledges, background as the founding director of the Seneca Media and Communications Center and environmental advocate within the Seneca Nation, and Dr. Meredith Alberta Palmer’s grounded analytic engagement with technologies of Indigenous dispossession and refusal.

This research workshop will initiate the first phase of planning and idea generation among a diverse group of community members, scholars, artists, and stakeholders. It will lay the groundwork for a larger program marking the 400-year anniversary of this foundational yet overlooked event. In collaboration with the Seneca Nation, the workshop will take place at the Oil Springs Territory as a site of reflection, creative fieldwork, and a catalyst for future initiatives.

By grounding the workshop in Indigenous territories, this workshop will foster deep cross-community collaborations that bridges Indigenous and non-Indigenous critical and creative practices. This workshop has the potential to strengthen intellectual and material ties between the UB community and Onöndowa’ga:’ (Seneca) peoples and lands through collaborative engagement.