In Ecuador, the recent introduction of mineral mining led to a conflictive debate on mining and development, particularly the concept of (good living). This article examines the discourses on the mining–development nexus articulated in the conflict around the first large-scale mine of Ecuador, El Mirador. The findings indicate that although the conflict concerns tangible territorial transformations, it is also a struggle over meanings. In this struggle, has become subject to strategic framing processes and eventually turned into an empty signifier. The case of El Mirador illustrates the challenges of advancing from concept to practice in the context of a search for a post-neoliberal development framework.
Through a persuasive discourse on well-being and citizen “participation,” Ecuador Estratégico, a government agency tasked with implementing buen vivir (good living) in regions of resource extraction, plays a pivotal role in justifying and legitimizing resource extraction locally. An examination of the practices and discourses of this state institution and of the responses of community members and the ways they negotiate citizenship in the context of mining-based development calls into question the mobilization of buen vivir to govern local populations and push for a controversial mining project. These political strategies were key for the onset of large-scale mining under former president Correa, the effects of which may endure for decades. A través de un discurso persuasivo sobre el bienestar y la “participación” ciudadana, Ecuador Estratégico, un organismo gubernamental encargado de implementar el “buen vivir” en las regiones sujetas a extracción de recursos, desempeña un papel fundamental en la justificación y legitimación de dicha extracción a nivel local. Un análisis de las prácticas y discursos de esta institución estatal, las respuestas de los miembros de la comunidad y las formas en que negocian la ciudadanía en el contexto de un desarrollo basado en la minería pone en entredicho el uso del buen vivir como herramienta para gobernar a las poblaciones locales e impulsar un polémico proyecto minero. Estas estrategias políticas jugaron un papel clave para el inicio de la minería a gran escala bajo el ex-presidente Correa; sus efectos han de perdurar durante décadas.
como uno de los abordajes principales dentro del debate sobre los extractivismos en Ecuador. Desde nuestra contribución activa a este debate, nuestro objetivo con este artículo es reflexionar sobre los aportes y limitaciones que ha supuesto la ecología política latinoamericana para el análisis del extractivismo, y en particular las posiciones de los sujetos comunitarios e indígenas. Analizaremos el enfoque analítico que se da a escenarios de conflicto, y cómo este tiende a asignar a dichos sujetos un lugar fijo tanto geográfico como de enunciación. Esto pueda representar un limitante, particularmente en casos donde la construcción del espacio, la naturaleza, y las posiciones de los sujetos se atraviesa por historias y prácticas de movilidad. Con base en tres estudios de casos de despojo extractivo-capitalista en la Amazonía Ecuatoriana, mostramos que al establecer un diálogo entre la ecología política y la geografía crítica de las movilidades se puede enriquecer el enfoque analítico sobre el extractivismo y las posiciones de los sujetos.Palabras clave: (in)movilidades, urbanización indígena, geografía crítica.
Conflicts over large-scale mining in Latin America have received growing scholarly attention. Whereas this scholarship has provided very valuable insights into the anatomies of these conflicts, the role of religious ideas and actors has received scant attention. This is remarkable, since the largest church of Latin America, the Catholic Church, seems to be in the midst of an ecological reorientation and increasingly emphasizes its image of the ‘Church of the poor and the Earth’. This research aims to fill this gap and examines the role of Catholic ideas and organizations in mining conflicts. Combining document analysis and ethnographic research on a mining project in Ecuador, the paper argues that Catholic ideas and actors play a significant role in discourses regarding nature and the subsoil, and in configuring the power relations part of conflicts. However, when engaging a historical and gendered perspective, it becomes clear that this role is not without ambiguities and tensions. The paper particularly urges researchers to remain critical of the reinforcements of a patriarchal system of power as well as the essentialization of indigenous cosmologies that continue to undergird present-day discourses and interactions of Catholic organizations in mining conflicts.
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