One World, Many Ethics. the Politics of Mining and Indigenous Peoples in Atacama, Chile
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One World, Many Ethics. The Politics of Mining and Indigenous Peoples in Atacama, Chile Item Type Electronic Dissertation; text Authors Carrasco, Anita Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 23/09/2021 14:44:21 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/145451 ! "! ONE WORLD, MANY ETHICS. THE POLITICS OF MINING AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN ATACAMA, CHILE by Anita Carrasco ________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2011 ! ! #! THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Anita Carrasco entitled One World, Many Ethics. The Politics of Mining and Indigenous Peoples in Atacama, Chile and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Date: 04/18/2011 Thomas K. Park _____________________________________________________Date: 04/18/2011 James B. Greenberg _____________________________________________________Date: 04/18/2011 Mark Nichter _____________________________________________________Date: 04/18/2011 J. Stephen Lansing _____________________________________________________Date: 04/18/2011 Carl J. Bauer Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 04/18/2011 Dissertation Director: Thomas K. Park ! ! $! STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Anita Carrasco ! ! %! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to start expressing my deepest greatfulnes to Atacameño Peoples for their kindness beyond limits. Particularly I would like to thank Lila Colamar, María Terán, Fermín Anza, Ricardo Tapia, Vinca Espinosa, Claudio Espinoza, Saturnina Cruz, Máximo Miranda, Felíx Lobera, María Berna, Juan Yufla, Delfina Mendoza, Norberta Yufla, Toribio Salvatierra, Simón Molina, Jacqueline Anza and the many more Atacameños I met in the course of fieldwork. This dissertation was largely possible thanks to the generosity of many people I met in the course of my academic journey to complete the PhD. I would not have pursued many of my research questions without the encouragement and support of my dissertation committee members Thomas Park, Mark Nichter, Stephen Lansing, Carl Bauer, and James Greenberg. Professor Jane Hill retired before I graduated, but I always benefited both emotionally and intellectually from our encounters. All the conversations with my committee members over the years have provided me with long lasting insights on how to see the the world like an anthropologist. I thank Hans Gundermann for his intellectual generosity and his logistic support during fieldwork. This dissertation would have been impossible to write without the support of my beloved husband Eduardo Fernandez, also a wonderful anthropologist. Not only did he engage in endless and passionate discussions about my research interests, but took great care of our dear son Esteban. My sister Sofía Carrasco has provided constant encouragement and has always expressed how proud I make her. I love her deeply and thank her for the constant source of energy she gives me to pursue my dreams. I also want to thank my friend and colleague Guillermo Brinck whom, whenever I return to Chile, is eager to talk with me about my latest research projects and whom has always drawn my attention to issues before invisible to me. He is one of the brightest, funniest, and down to earth men I have ever met. I thank my geologist roomates Rodrigo Riquelme, Carlos Cisterna, and my geologist brothers Pedro and Pablo. They all worked for CODELCO at the time of my fielwork and provided me invaluable insider’s perspectives into the world of mining. Rodrigo: thanks for lending me your jeep for my field expeditions! My peers Paola Canova, Anton Daughters, Tara Deubel, Krisna Ruette, Shawkat Ara Begun, Mary Good, Lisa Janz and many more have all shared their stories of what it means to be a graduate student and their work in different pivotal moments of the doctoral program. Their stories and help have been a great influence and inspiration in my academic pursues. I want to thank Jeannie Pechin for sharing a dear part of her life with me. The pictures, the documents, and the memories that her father William E. Rudolph’s left her were of great importance to my understanding of the times of the gringo ownership of mining in Atacama. The universe brough me Jeannie and I feel blessed. Finally, I would like to thank my father Pedro Carrasco Castelli, a geologist and the man responsible for introducing me to the world of mining and for my enchantment with the Desert. I would have liked to have him see me graduate, but life took him away from me unexpectedly. ! &! DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to Pedro and the memory of all the miners and Atacameños that have lived and died for mining in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. ! '! TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………12 METHODS……………………………………………………………………… 17 THE CONTEXT: A POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF SOCIAL CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY IN ATACAMA…………………..………………..………....21 Is sustainability an ideology?.............................................................................. 25 DISSERTATION STRUCTURE……………………………………………….. 27 II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: IDEOLOGY AND ETHICS……………. 35 WHAT IS IDEOLOGY?..................................................................................... … 35 Ideological strategies for legitimation……………………………………. … 39 ‘Base’ and ‘superstructure’………………………………………………….. 40 Commodity fetishism: from relations between men to relations between things……..((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( 42 The difference between ideology and hegemony……………………………... 42 Ideology and the concept of exchange-value……………………………….... 45 Ideology and ideological state apparatuses………………………………….. 46 Habitus or the ideology of everyday life……………………………………... 48 ETHICAL SYSTEMS…………………………………………………………... 51 Utilitarian ethics…………..………………………………………………...... 52 Deontological ethics………………………………………………………….. 57 Rawls theory of justice………………………………………………………... 62 Multiculturalism and the ethics of authenticity………………………………. 65 On cultural relativism………………………………………………………... 68 WHY IDEOLOGY AND ETHICS?.........................................................................71 III. THE SOCIOHISTORICAL CONTEXT OF MINING AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN ATACAMA…………………………………………………………. 74 THE WAR OF THE PACIFIC (1879-1884)……………………………………. 75 The Chilean state and fiscal policy after the war…………………………….. 78 6 ! )! NITRATES AND COPPER IN THE PAMPA (1880-1930)…………………… 79 Working conditions and social inequality in the nitrate pampa……………...... 82 Labor movements and social unrest………………………………………….. 83 The state and American capitals: the foundations of large-scale mining……. 85 NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE REQUIREMENTS OF INCREASING INDUSTRIAL AND URBAN GROWTH……………………………………… 87 The expansion of mining and its impacts on agriculture: social change in the interior regions of Antofagasta………………………………………………... 88 Atacameño population and the changes in their patterns of integration to the regional economy………………………………………………………………………. 89 DEMOCRACY AND DICTATORSHIP, 1960s-1990s……………………....... 95 Social reforms and economic frustrations…………………………………… 96 Radicalization, polarization, mobilization …………………………………... 97 The “tacnazo” and the triumph of Allende…………………………………... 99 The Chilean road to socialism………………………………………………. 103 The Chilean road to capitalism……………………………………………... 108 Economic revolution………………………………………………………... 109 The return of democracy?................................................................................ 118 IV. THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF WATER IN ATACAMA, CHILE…... 124 THE CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF WATER IN ATACAMA………… 126 THE LEGAL CONSTRUCTION OF WATER IN CHILE…………………… 130 POWER OVER WATER: CODELCO’S MONOPOLY OVER WATER IN THE PROVINCE OF LOA………………………………………………………….. 133 MINING NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND THE PRACTICAL PROBLEMS OF SUSTAINABILITY………………………………………… 140 FRAMING WATER ISSUES IN THE BROADER CONTEXT OF NEOLIBERAL IDEOLOGY…………………………………………………… 144 V. THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF WATER AND LABOR IN