Copyright by Teresa Angélica Velásquez 2012
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Copyright by Teresa Angélica Velásquez 2012 The Dissertation Committee for Teresa Angélica Velásquez Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: GOING GREEN: SUSTAINABLE MINING, WATER, AND THE REMAKING OF SOCIAL PROTEST IN POST-NEOLIBERAL ECUADOR Committee: Charles R. Hale, Supervisor Kaushik Ghosh Suzana Sawyer Shannon Speed Joao H. Vargas GOING GREEN: SUSTAINABLE MINING, WATER, AND THE REMAKING OF SOCIAL PROTEST IN POST-NEOLIBERAL ECUADOR by Teresa Angélica Velásquez, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2012 Dedication For Paloma, Nicolas, & Diego and all of the Defensora/os de la vida. Acknowledgements The generosity of many institutions and people has made this dissertation possible. I am the recipient of various grants and fellowships from the University of Texas at Austin, the Tinker Foundation, the Inter-American Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. In my last year, I was awarded the University of Texas Continuing Fellowship, which allowed me to carefully sift through my field data and write-up my dissertation. The University of California at Davis was an excellent place to try out my teaching skills during the summer months. The Faculty for Latin American Social Sciences in Quito, Ecuador provided institutional support and affiliation during my fieldwork. I am especially indebted to the various activists, priests, and friends that I have met in Ecuador, too numerous to name here. I want to pay a special thanks to the Arévalo family who were the first to open their home and lives to me while in the field. They have shared the delights and challenges of living in the campo, while teaching me about life and friendship. Francisca Zhagui was always a source of sharp insight into community politics and humor. The Calle family in Cuenca came to the rescue when I needed the comforts of family and a homemade meal. Other friends and collaborators played especially important roles in supporting my dissertation fieldwork: Nidia, Chela, Carlos, Federico, Don “Vichy,” Don Manuel, Gustavo, Gloria, Lizardo, Miriam, Nataly, Humberto, Mariano, Pepe, among others. I am lucky to have enjoyed the friendship and support of Kevin and Maria Cristina in Quito for more than a decade now. The Quizha- Quizha group was an important space of activism and friendship. Mil gracias to Kléver who served as an especially talented cultural translator. His care and wisdom were v integral to successfully navigating the complexities of doing research in an area of political conflict. I consider dissertation committee members Shannon Speed, João Vargas, and Kaushik Ghosh important mentors and guides along this long journey. I especially thank Shannon for her enthusiastic support for my project and introducing me to so many wonderful books and articles in her seminar class. I am especially indebted to friend and mentor Suzana Sawyer who first introduced me to Ecuadorian indigenous politics. She stepped at critical junctures, and has never ceased to challenge and inspire me. The support of advisor and mentor Charlie Hale was absolutely crucial to this project and the success of my career as a graduate student. This dissertation has benefited greatly from his sharp intellect and political compromiso. My dissertation has also benefited from conversations and engagement with colleagues from other institutions including Anthony Bebbington, Marisol de la Cadena, Fabiana Li, Fernando García, and Stuart Kirsch. I owe a special thanks to Anthony for opening new research and publication opportunities. I have learned much about being a colleague and a researcher from him. My relationship with Jennifer Moore has crisscrossed the boundaries of work and friendship. I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenging and rewarding experience of co-authoring publications together and sharing our passion and commitment to popular resource struggles. Friends have nourished mind and spirit along the way. In no particular order, I am grateful to Elaine Mack, Diana Ruiz, Pablo Gonzalez, Nick Copeland, Nancy Rios, Santiago Guerra, Vivian Newdick, Lynn Selby, Chris Loperena, Mubbashir Rizvi and family, Cristina Salinas, Crystal Kurzen, Christine Labusky, Ximena Warnaars, Alisa Perkins, and Nathan Tabor. In addition, my family has been a great source of fun and vi escape. Paloma, Diego, and Nicolas have been a joy to watch through the years. I am forever grateful to Joseph who taught me that self-care is integral to academic success. vii GOING GREEN: SUSTAINABLE MINING, WATER, AND THE REMAKING OF SOCIAL PROTEST IN POST-NEOLIBERAL ECUADOR Teresa Angélica Velásquez, P.h.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2012 Supervisor: Charles. R. Hale This dissertation examines the reconfiguration of popular environmental politics in the context of so-called sustainable mining development in Ecuador. Progressive governments in Latin America herald sustainable mining initiatives as the lynchpin to development capable of generating revenues to finance social welfare programs and protecting the environment. If this is so, my dissertation asks, then why has a proposed sustainable gold mine provoked such bitter opposition from dairy farmers in the parish of Victoria del Portete? My dissertation follows a group of indigenous and mestizo dairy farmers in the southern Ecuadorian Andes to understand why they oppose gold mining in their watershed and traces the cultural and political transformations that followed from their activism. I make four key arguments in this dissertation. First, I argue that sustainable mining plans place a premium on local water resources and have the effect of rearticulating local water disputes. Whereas owners of small and large dairy farms have historically disputed local access to water resources now they have created a unified movement against the proposed gold mine project. Second, I argue that knowledge practices and political discourses enabled farmers with varying claims to ethnic ancestry and socio-economic standing to establish connections with each other and with national indigenous leaders, Catholic priests, artists, and urban ecologists. Together they have formed a movement in defense of life. My analysis extends common understandings of the nature of human agency and political life by examining the role that non-human viii entities play in shaping contemporary environmental politics. Third, as a result of the mobilizations, new socio-environmental formations have emerged. The watershed has become a sacred place called Kimsacocha, which is venerated by farmers through new cultural practices as the source of life. Finally, the mobilizations in defense of life have re-centered indigeneity in unexpected ways. Farmers with and without indigenous ancestry as well as their urban allies are now claiming an indigenous identity. Unlike previous understandings of identity in the region, indigeneity does not denote a shared racial, cultural, or class position but refers to a particular way of understanding and relation to the environment. ix Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................. xiv Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 Mining in Ecuador ...................................................................................... 8 Mining Conflicts .............................................................................. 11 Theoretical Framework: A changing political and conceptual terrain ........ 16 Disconnections and double-binds ..................................................... 23 Methods, Activism, and Positionality ........................................................ 25 Positionality ..................................................................................... 29 People and Places ..................................................................................... 31 Chapter Map ............................................................................................. 37 A note on Names and Places ..................................................................... 42 PART I-MINING & MOVEMENTS 44 Chapter 1: The Science of Corporate Social Responsibility ............................... 45 Introduction .............................................................................................. 45 Green Mining Framework ......................................................................... 48 Disputes over Science ............................................................................... 50 IAMGOLD uses science .................................................................. 50 Farmers use science ......................................................................... 55 The state uses science....................................................................... 58 Expanding connections and consolidating alliances .................................. 66 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 69 Chapter 2: The Ironies of Post-Neoliberal Environmentalism ............................ 73 Introduction .............................................................................................. 73 Correa: From hope to disappointment ......................................................