An Ethnography of Entanglements: Mercury’s Presence and Absence in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Antioquia, Colombia

Abstract

SiteS is licensed CC BY 4.0 unless otherwise specified. sites: new series · vol 15 no 1 · 2018 Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11157/sites-id349 -article -AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF ENTANGLEMENTS: MerCurY's PresenCe and aBsenCe in artisanal and sMall-sCale Gold MininG in antioquia, ColoMBia Thomas Robertson1 & Trisia Farrelly2 aBstraCt This paper describes a 'follow the thing' methodology as applied to an ethnography of entanglements. This methodology allowed for a materially and politically nuanced understanding of Antioquia, Colombia's response to mercury pollution. This pollution primarily originates from the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) industry where mercury is employed in the gold extraction process. In following the mercury, the authors experiment with an ethnography of entanglements. The paper discusses how they address the current lacunae in mining ethnographies by focussing on mining as 'practice', going past the provision of technical descriptions of mining and ethnographic descriptions of miners to an ethnography of mining. This ethnographic approach considers the politics of materiality and addresses a lack of attention to the impacts of the presence and absence of materials on social life. Various mining practices in Antioquia illuminate how entanglements between miners and mercury have been co-constitutive of particular modes of ASGM. The paper will also provide examples of 'negative mercury entanglements' where efforts have been made to extricate mercury from mining practices. Rather than creating a vacuum, these mercury absences have been generative of new contested symbolic and material arrangements including entrepreneurial and 'responsible' mining, debates over miners' rights, and the creation of new political relationships between ASGM and large-scale mining companies.

Theorizing the "Social" in Socio-Hydrology: Incorporating Ethnographic Methods to Characterize Coupled Human-Water Systems in Rural Colombia

“…However, much of the rigorous work that goes into ethnographic analysis remains "invisible to the untrained eye" (Forsythe, 1999, p. 127), as it requires deep knowledge of social theories and the ability to "detect consistent patterns of thought and practice and to investigate the relationship between them…since what people do is not always the same as what they say they do" (p. 128). Relevant to socio-hydrology, ethnography has been used to understand political opinions on water re-use in Kenya (Wakhungu, 2019), to identify the technological barriers to eliminating aquatic mercury pollution from the Colombian mining sector (Robertson & Farrelly, 2020), and to analyze permaculture practices in Amazonian regions aerially fumigated with herbicides (Lyons, 2020). Although traditional ethnography requires extensive time immersed in the field, anthropologists have developed modified ethnographic procedures, e.g.…”

“…In Andes, ASGM contaminates water through gold extraction methods-historically a two-phase aqueous mercury-cyanide process (Esdaile & Chalker, 2018). This extraction method has been prohibited since 2018 after Colombia's ratification of the Minimata Convention, yet mercury elimination has proven complicated nationwide (Diaz et al, 2020;Robertson & Farrelly, 2020). Soluble mercury compounds can enter surface water systems via direct runoff from processing plants or through the weathering of historic tailings that were treated with mercury (O.…”

Mining Leftovers: Making Futures on the Margins of Capitalism

“…The presence of mercury also implied more potential auditing of gold production in town, thus eventually fostering the further criminalization of small‐scale mining. Thomas Robertson and Trisia Farelly (2018) describe the way mercury‐elimination programs in Buriticá have implied deep entanglements between small‐ and large‐scale mining, leading to regulation, new labor arrangements, and the loss of autonomy for small‐scale miners.…”