Neoextractivism and Indigenous Water Ritual in Salar de Atacama, Chile

Abstract

Latin American governments are neoextractivist: they promote exploitation of natural resources as central to economic development while acting to mitigate some of the excesses of extractive activity. In the space left open by the neoliberal state in the Salar de Atacama in northern Chile, the mining industry creates its own regulatory mechanisms and provides infrastructure and “improvement” projects to indigenous communities. While these projects gain a degree of consent to water extraction and the value of water for development, indigenous people also resist the neoextractivist project. The contradictions of extractivism-as-development are evident in everyday life and articulated in ritual and cultural practice. We take the example of a ritual and work event, the limpia de canales (canal cleaning), to narrate something of local responses to neoextractivist conditions. Los gobiernos latinoamericanos son neoextractivistas: promueven la explotación de los recursos naturales como elemento central del desarrollo económico y al mismo tiempo actúan para mitigar algunos de los excesos de la actividad extractiva. En el espacio abandonado por el estado neoliberal en el Salar de Atacama en el norte de Chile, la industria minera crea sus propios mecanismos regulatorios y proporciona infraestructura y proyectos de “mejora” a las comunidades indígenas. Si bien estos proyectos obtienen un grado de consentimiento para la extracción de agua y el valor del agua para el desarrollo, los pueblos indígenas también se resisten al proyecto neoextractivista. Las contradicciones del extractivismo como desarrollo son evidentes en la vida cotidiana y se articulan en la práctica ritual y cultural. Tomamos el ejemplo de un evento ritual y laboral, la limpia de canales, para narrar algo de las respuestas locales a las condiciones neoextractivistas.

Social-Environmental Conflicts in Chile: Is There Any Potential for an Ecological Constitution?

“…As well as being vital for the survival of plants, animals, and humans, water is a fundamental social component of Andean communities. In particular, the Lican Antai community asserts that "water is a being" and acknowledges its importance for social well-being, given its cosmological belief in engaging with water as a potent spiritual force [86,87]. This illustrates how Indigenous environmental justice demands sustainability thinking to recognize nonhuman entities [88].…”

Design of an interdisciplinary evaluation method for multi-scaled sustainability of computer-based projects. A workbased on the Sustainable Computing Evaluation Framework (SCEF)

“…The social impact of ICT production doesn't appear in Berkhout's paper whereas it is a major effect on humans' organizations. Indeed, social conflicts has emerged because of environmental impacts of mining activities and can destabilize some communities [2]. How are these elements taken into account in the model of direct, enabling and structural impacts?…”

How Central Water Management Impacts Local Livelihoods: An Ethnographic Case Study of Mining Water Extraction in Tarapacá, Chile

“…Technically speaking, even the DGA is currently unable to prove or disprove the aquifer interconnections because of its lack of hydrological expertise and financial resources. Nonetheless, this not only accounts for the asymmetry between the knowledge in dispute but also in the tension of a relation that amalgamates expert knowledge, socio-territorial configurations, legibility of resources, administration, management, and distribution through water rights and commodification [5,110,111]. Given prevailing uncertainty, the conflict cannot be resolved only at a technical level, hence other factors start to come in.…”