Crude Chronicles: Indigenous Politics, Multinational Oil, and Neoliberalism in Ecuador

by Suzana Sawyer, Emily S. Rosenberg (Editor), Gilbert M. Joseph (Editor)

Ecuador is the third-largest foreign supplier of crude oil to the western United States. As the source of this oil, the Ecuadorian Amazon has borne the far-reaching social and environmental consequences of a growing U.S. demand for petroleum and the dynamics of economic globalization it necessitates. Crude Chronicles traces the emergence during the 1990s of a highly organized indigenous movement and its struggles against a U.S. oil company and Ecuadorian neoliberal policies. Against the backdrop of mounting government attempts to privatize and liberalize the national economy, Suzana Sawyer shows how neoliberal reforms in Ecuador led to a crisis of governance, accountability, and representation that spurred one of twentieth-century Latin America’s strongest indigenous movements.Through her rich ethnography of indigenous marches, demonstrations, occupations, and negotiations, Sawyer tracks the growing sophistication of indigenous politics as Indians subverted, re-deployed, and, at times, capitulated to the dictates and desires of a transnational neoliberal logic. At the same time, she follows the multiple maneuvers and discourses that the multinational corporation and the Ecuadorian state used to circumscribe and contain indigenous opposition. Ultimately, Sawyer reveals that indigenous struggles over land and oil operations in Ecuador were as much about reconfiguring national and transnational inequality—that is, rupturing the silence around racial injustice, exacting spaces of accountability, and rewriting narratives of national belonging—as they were about the material use and extraction of rain-forest resources.

Genres: Anthropology, Ethnography, Nonfiction, History, Sustainability, Economics

312 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2004

About the author

Suzana Sawyer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at UC Davis.

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was great, but the story-teller was not. I felt the information was very interesting and relevant, but the author is so self-congratulatory that she comes across as borderline narcissistic. That got pretty old. The subtitle could have been: Me, Indigenous Politics, etc.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book masterfully narrates the struggles between indigenous social movements, the Ecuadoran state, and the multinational energy company Arco in the context of oil exploitation in Ecuador. In doing so, she self-consciously reveals the face of neoliberalism as what I would call (following Tonia Murray Li, Nikolas Rose and Michael Watts) governmentality. I would encourage the reader, after completing this book, to read a basic neoclassical economic introduction to development. Doing so may reveal the spectacle that is neoclassical economics, divorced from the reality that is corporate exploitation and globalization.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our anthropologist son, who just returned from being in Ecuador for 10 months, kept us supplied with reading material about the indigenous people. Dr. Sawyer's book dealt with the demonstrations and marches that the indigenous people had in the early 90's concerning petroleum and agricultural rights. Her perspective was especially interesting since she came from a family involved in the petroleum industry. What I found very interesting was how the government allowed the marches to proceed and even met with the marchers to try to understand their positions. While at times, it appeared as only lip service, some changes were made as a result of the meetings. Capitalism anywhere does not work that well for the poorest of peoples.

[John Blatzheim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this book! Anybody interested in social movements or the effects neoliberalism on Latin America will enjoy Sawyer's work, which is both ethnologically and theoretically deep while remaining very accessible and enjoyable to read. I highly recommend this book!

[Allison]

Dense reading, but so far the author is engaging and spot on. The book has a strong political bias, but considering the politics, her bias is more than welcome.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

It will make you scream in outrage and never want to buy oil again. I love anthropology books.