Performing the ‘India Permitida’: The Counter‐Gift of Indigenous Women Targeted by a Corporate Social Responsibility Programme (Chile)

Abstract

Relying on ethnographic data, this article critically analyses the pro‐mining position adopted in Chile's Atacama Region by a group of Diaguita women who benefited from a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme to revive indigenous culture. While the desire to escape from poverty (salir adelante, moving forward) appears as the main reason for participating, the benefits generated a sense of indebtedness resulting in allegiance to the company. The investigation also shows how this programme played a part in building a scenario in which indigenous females perform subjects apparently more suited than men to the neoliberal and multiculturalist governmentality of the Chilean State, whose politics favours mining.

Global ideals and restorative extraction: Negotiated Indigeneity on the margins of a Peruvian copper mine

“…The complexities and nuances involved in this rethinking of the Andes allow scholars to eschew an emphasis on cultural otherness (Ferreira 2016) and elucidate the lived experience and consequences of marginalization (Canessa 2012). Recently, some authors have begun to define serranos (highlanders) not by ecological determinants or cosmological orientations but by the social projects that come to inform their being in the world: desires of “getting ahead” (Berg 2015; Gajardo 2021), of “improving oneself” (Huarcaya 2015; Leinaweaver 2008), of “making progress” (Paerregaard 1997), and so on. Much like the search for the better life, these projects, sprouting from histories of exclusion and marginalization, probe the possibilities of “national reciprocity”—of discovering where and how to ensure inclusion in the future and development of Peru 7 .…”

Lost in Corporate Translation: How Firms Mediate Between Social Mobilization and Regulatory Intervention in the Extractive Sector

“…The strategic location of Diaguita communities in the Huasco Alto (high valley), combined with the increasing legal salience of indigenous rights claims, led Barrick to privilege this relationship within its broader set of CSR activities. Since at least 2004 it had provided support to the Diaguita Cultural Center, including developing workshops and certification for traditional handicraft activities, legal advice for recognition of status and property (accreditation by CONADI), technical and productive assistance to farmers, and educational scholarships (Barrick Sudamérica 2008, 78), contributing to the folkloristic "reethnicization" of the Diaguita (Gajardo 2014). The CSR program also succeeded in producing positive impressions of the company among some community members, especially women, who found both personal valorization and economic opportunities as guardians of traditional culture and the production of handicrafts, although CADHA remained steadfast in its opposition (Gajardo 2021).…”

“…Staff within the organization were responsive to citizen denunicas , and characterized their early regulatory actions against the company as an “achievement” that sent a message that “open negligence” and non-compliance with the RCA was unacceptable (71CLSA; 74CLSA). However, in 2013 the outcome of that regulatory process was unclear, and a parallel legal process led by 12 CONADI-recognized Diaguita communities succeeded in positioning these communities as important obstacles to the development of the project (Muñoz Cuevas 2016; Gajardo 2021). In July 2013, lawyers for the recognized communities obtained a freeze on the project from the Copiapó Court of Appeal, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court (Aguilar Cavallo 2013).…”

“…In response to these pressures, Barrick leveraged its lengthy engagement with Diaguita culture to attempt a settlement through the memorandum of understanding signed by Barrick and the leadership of 15 indigenous communities in April 2014. The agreement provided for information sharing about the environmental effects of the project and mitigation measures and implied a future agreement about benefits (Gajardo 2021, 98). Barrick portrayed the agreement as a “world first” and “aligning with the standards of ILO 169”—and also made a US$2.3 million fund available to support the collection and analysis of data regarding the impact of the project on the Diaguita’s “ancestral territory” (Muñoz Cuevas 2016, 142–43).…”

Ressources extractives sud-américaines : mondialisation et territorialisations des marges

“…Le phénomène d'« essentialisation stratégique » de l'altérité (Gajardo, 2020 ;Göbel, 2013 ;Grieco, 2018 ;Grieco, Jenkins, 2020), notamment indigène, dans les conflits, pour la reconnaissance des différences culturelles illustre à la fois une mobilisation du droit par les opposants à la marchandisation des ressources naturelles pour stopper l'ouverture des nouveaux fronts, et un processus de (re)construction identitaire et de réarticulation sociale (autoorganisation, coopération, etc.) dans les territoires locaux.…”