Unearthing Conflict: Corporate Mining, Activism, and Expertise in Peru

by Fabiana Li

In Unearthing Conflict Fabiana Li analyzes the aggressive expansion and modernization of mining in Peru since the 1990s to tease out the dynamics of mining-based protests. Issues of water scarcity and pollution, the loss of farmland, and the degradation of sacred land are especially contentious. She traces the emergence of the conflicts by discussing the smelter-town of La Oroya—where people have lived with toxic emissions for almost a century—before focusing her analysis on the relatively new Yanacocha gold mega-mine. Debates about what kinds of knowledge count as legitimate, Li argues, lie at the core of activist and corporate mining campaigns. Li pushes against the concept of "equivalence"—or methods with which to quantify and compare things such as pollution—to explain how opposing groups interpret environmental regulations, assess a project’s potential impacts, and negotiate monetary compensation for damages. This politics of equivalence is central to these mining controversies, and Li uncovers the mechanisms through which competing parties create knowledge, assign value, arrive at contrasting definitions of pollution, and construct the Peruvian mountains as spaces under constant negotiation.

280 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 2015

Reviews

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Apparently the only solution is for governments to hire people like Li on generous stipends. And like with all fortune tellers: once you do that, the gods will be pleased and things will be beautiful.

[Claudia U. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through her analysis of mining conflicts in Peru, Fabiana Li eloquently details how extractivism impacts surrounding communities. In particular, her findings underscore how extractivism has shaped the many struggles of Andean communities in having sovereignty over their land, water, and resources. As a focal point of her analysis, Li examines how multiple actors within the broader social movements opposing mega-mining projects in Cajamarca, Peru, coalesced around water and other non-human actors, such as the Cerro Quilish. Most interesting to me were the narratives she shared from the activists, Andean farmers, and scientists from the mining companies as it related to her analysis of how expertise and scientific information were upheld as a gold standard by the mining company Yanacocha in all their public communications. At many points in the book, I felt dispirited with the power exerted by mining companies to hire experts and conduct expensive assessments of the landscape via the Environmental Impact Statement as well as claiming to have corporate social sustainability. In fact, one of the major takeaways of this book for me included learning how Environmental Impact Statements can be used by the industry to minimize the potential disastrous consequences that mining (particularly open pit) can have for water sources, the land, and health of the surrounding communities. Even public commentary by local communities ultimately came to be used as a way to undermine their knowledge. I was also fascinated to learn that the narrative around Cerro Quilish (the mountain that came to be known as a sacred entity for the local Andean communities) was actually being shaped as the conflict intensified. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a difficult read for me since I decided to read it in Spanish but I thoroughly enjoyed learning about how the communities mobilized with local, regional, national, and global allies to the protect their water source and their environment.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went to Cajamarca as a tourist in 2013, not that long after the events of this book and remember the protest signs for water not gold. This book does a really good job of analyzing why water became such a rallying cry for the Cajamarca anti-mining protests in trying to answer why some areas and some megaprojects become such conflicts.

I really appreciated the theory and application of equivalencies as a way of understanding that mining companies believe you can just manage water by replacing a lagoon with a treated reservoir and yet for communities a lagoon or a way of life can't be quantified and replaced so simply. It's another way of looking at which types of knowledge are valued and how the scientific studies have gained primacy as the discourse for impacts and pollution.

[Anubis · Rating 3 out of 5]

actually read it about 4 years ago. According to the very dense sidenotes, it was a careful reading. But i can barely recall anything. I think the author did a excellent job in lying out all the conflicts, and i especially love the different ontologies about mountains. I would call it a solid ethnography, but I guess it is just lacks the aura for a second reading...

[Fernando · Rating 3 out of 5]

External point of view to justify mineral extraction analysing differences of "economic value": sacred land versus profit oriented perception of nature...

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to read for a class. A wonderful book that examines the intricacies of mining. It’s destructive, but not easy to stop because the livelihood intertwined with it. Li makes you think. Great book