Territorialization in a closing commodity frontier: The Yasuní rainforests of West Amazonia

Abstract

In Ecuador's Yasuní rainforests and the lived history of the Waorani that live there, the commodification of first rubber and then oil shaped territorialization into particularly violent form. The formative role of rubber production in the 19th century involved local despots' imposition of a regime of violence. Reacting to this violent capitalist system, individual Waorani forged new socio-spatial territories through violence with rubber slavers and cooperation with the Taromenane, a people who continue to live in isolation. Today, an oil complex exerts control to bring the end of Yasuní's commodity frontier, even while the Waorani Nation and Taromenane hold legal rights to parts of the forests. In this article, I analyse how rubber and oil exploitation has unfolded as capitalist territorial violence, spurring Waorani and Taromenane social expressions and political mobilizations that are at times violent, but primarily not.

“Our Land Is Not for Sale!” Contesting Oil and Translating Environmental Politics in Amazonian Ecuador

“…Despite increasing GDP, becoming a "petro-state" (Karl 1997) has brought increases in national debt, ecological damage resulting in a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against Texaco/Chevron, and Amazonian communities affected by oil pollution receiving few benefits (Cepek 2018;Gerlach 2003;Lu, Valdivia, and Silva 2017;Sawyer 2004). Extractive economies have also contributed to violent conflicts between Waorani, outsiders, and the Taromenani-a group living in voluntary isolation within their territory (Gilbert 2016;High 2015) (Fig. 3).…”

In the shadows of power: the infrastructural violence of thermal power generation in Ghana's coastal commodity frontier

“…These patterns of violence can be seen in other empirical settings. A study of the Ecuadorian oil industry discusses the violent territorialization that has arisen concomitantly with the capitalist control of the frontier zones (Gilbert 2018). Whilst violent conflict has been rife, including over 100 deaths over two decades, Gilbert also identifies slower and more subtle forms of violence, including deforestation, despoliation of local ecosystems, alcoholism and prostitution.…”

Between ‘Conservation’ and ‘Development’: The Construction of ‘Protected Nature’ and the Environmental Disenfranchisement of Indigenous Communities

“…Correa also invoked social development as another 'higher authority'. On several occasions, Correa and members of his government stated that with the money derived from the exploitation, they intended to 'build new schools, improve the roads, kit up hospitals and take out of poverty as many Ecuadorians as possible' (Noticias 2013b Indeed, since the early 1970s, the Amazon has been portrayed as a territory in need of development, thus legitimising forceful interventions (Gilbert 2018).…”

“…Further, the few news entries that acknowledged the presence of Indigenous communities used the term 'uncontacted communities' to describe them. As explained by Gilbert (2018), this is incorrect given that these communities have had contact with external society but have since decided to live in voluntary isolation. The lack of accuracy of this term is not only a technical matter; it has important sociological and political implications.…”

“…Of the three groups, the Taromenane and Tagaeri decided to live in isolation from external, global society. While public discourse may refer to them as 'uncontacted', commentators (e.g., Gilbert 2018) indicate that a more accurate term is 'voluntary isolation'. These Indigenous communities have had contact with colonisers but have preferred to maintain a separate existence and reject the enticements of material goods.…”