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Life in Oil: Cofán Survival in the Petroleum Fields of Amazonia
Oil is one of the world's most important commodities, but few people know how its extraction affects the residents of petroleum-producing regions. In the 1960s, the Texaco corporation discovered crude in the territory of Ecuador's indigenous Cofan nation. Within a decade, Ecuador had become a member of OPEC, and the Cofan watched as their forests fell, their rivers ran black, and their bodies succumbed to new illnesses. In 1993, they became plaintiffs in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit that aims to compensate them for the losses they have suffered. Yet even in the midst of a tragic toxic disaster, the Cofan have refused to be destroyed. While seeking reparations for oil's assault on their lives, they remain committed to the survival of their language, culture, and rainforest homeland.
Life in Oil presents the compelling, nuanced story of how the Cofan manage to endure at the center of Ecuadorian petroleum extraction. Michael L. Cepek has lived and worked with Cofan people for more than twenty years. In this highly accessible book, he goes well beyond popular and academic accounts of their suffering to share the largely unknown stories that Cofan people themselves create--the ones they tell in their own language, in their own communities, and to one another and the few outsiders they know and trust. Their words reveal that life in oil is a form of slow, confusing violence for some of the earth's most marginalized, yet resilient, inhabitants.
Life in Oil presents the compelling, nuanced story of how the Cofan manage to endure at the center of Ecuadorian petroleum extraction. Michael L. Cepek has lived and worked with Cofan people for more than twenty years. In this highly accessible book, he goes well beyond popular and academic accounts of their suffering to share the largely unknown stories that Cofan people themselves create--the ones they tell in their own language, in their own communities, and to one another and the few outsiders they know and trust. Their words reveal that life in oil is a form of slow, confusing violence for some of the earth's most marginalized, yet resilient, inhabitants.
302 pages, Hardcover
Published April 2, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 15, 2023
read for my anthropology of development class and found it very thought-provoking and engaging
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November 23, 2022Truly an incredible read. I recommend it to really everyone, but particularly those concerned with understanding commercial imperialism's engagement with indigenous communities worldwide.
As an anthropologist, Cepek takes probably the most ethical approach possible to shed light on the oil industry's impact on the Amazonian Cofán community of Dureno. He challenges common conceptions of indigenous folks through his accounts of the lives and histories of the Cofán people, himself being an active community member for nearly 30 years and a ritual relative of multiple families, portraying their informed agency, complexity, and shrewdness. As opposed to dominant depictions and beliefs of indigenous folks as one-dimensional, backward, uneducated, and victims to global demand, Cepek asserts their ingenuity, expertise, and political prowess through their daily lived experiences and their involvement with the oil industry and the Western world and Global North more broadly.
When speaking of a Cofán shaman's experience transforming into a jaguar, Cepek does not merely say, "He believed he became a jaguar," but rather, "He became a jaguar," assigning dignity and respect to indigenous life and practice which is so often mocked or deemed inferior. He emphasizes the importance of reciprocity when working with the Cofán (and all indigenous peoples) and asserts the grave harms done by well-meaning environmentalists and humanitarians, often obsessed with indigenous cultural purity, when it is the countries from which they come doing the most harm, and it is their ignorance to that reality that is ridiculous in their attempt to assign value to indigenous cultural expression.
"I have no idea how to calculate the harm oil did to the people of Dureno or how much money would adequately compensate them for their losses. For an anthropologist, the questions are strange and uncomfortable. Cofán people have suffered in so many ways: the fear, conflict, illness, deaths, r*pes, and loss of so much land that would have supported their culture and given them the freedom to transform their way of life according to their own visions of self-determination. It is hard to describe, let alone quantify, such privation while admitting a basic fact: as a people, the Cofán are still here. Oil did not destroy them, but they are filled with humor, joy, and purpose alongside suffering, sorrow, and pain."
As an anthropologist, Cepek takes probably the most ethical approach possible to shed light on the oil industry's impact on the Amazonian Cofán community of Dureno. He challenges common conceptions of indigenous folks through his accounts of the lives and histories of the Cofán people, himself being an active community member for nearly 30 years and a ritual relative of multiple families, portraying their informed agency, complexity, and shrewdness. As opposed to dominant depictions and beliefs of indigenous folks as one-dimensional, backward, uneducated, and victims to global demand, Cepek asserts their ingenuity, expertise, and political prowess through their daily lived experiences and their involvement with the oil industry and the Western world and Global North more broadly.
When speaking of a Cofán shaman's experience transforming into a jaguar, Cepek does not merely say, "He believed he became a jaguar," but rather, "He became a jaguar," assigning dignity and respect to indigenous life and practice which is so often mocked or deemed inferior. He emphasizes the importance of reciprocity when working with the Cofán (and all indigenous peoples) and asserts the grave harms done by well-meaning environmentalists and humanitarians, often obsessed with indigenous cultural purity, when it is the countries from which they come doing the most harm, and it is their ignorance to that reality that is ridiculous in their attempt to assign value to indigenous cultural expression.
"I have no idea how to calculate the harm oil did to the people of Dureno or how much money would adequately compensate them for their losses. For an anthropologist, the questions are strange and uncomfortable. Cofán people have suffered in so many ways: the fear, conflict, illness, deaths, r*pes, and loss of so much land that would have supported their culture and given them the freedom to transform their way of life according to their own visions of self-determination. It is hard to describe, let alone quantify, such privation while admitting a basic fact: as a people, the Cofán are still here. Oil did not destroy them, but they are filled with humor, joy, and purpose alongside suffering, sorrow, and pain."
November 2, 2022
I've spent a fair amount of time working with indigenous communities challenging oil exploration on their land, but from the perspective of a lawyer trying to support a court case and develop the legal arguments and factual bases necessary to do so. With that context, I thought this book did a really incredible job of showing the complexity of the inter- and intra- community dynamics around oil exploration and exploitation in indigenous territory. He centers the Cofan and their voices and their experiences and is very clear in places where his own experiences and expectations (or those of other foreign interlocutors) may have shifted and impacted the narrative. This is one book about one community in the Ecuadorian amazon (and one of the most high profile ones), but it is essential for understanding the realities of abstract concepts of "development" or "authenticity" in the real lives of communities.
April 14, 2020
Was very lucky to have had Cepek as one of my professors and I was glad he didn't sugar coat the field work of an anthropologist, during the book and in lecture. Also, explaining how complex it was for the Cofán to have had to change and/or adapt their culture to outside influences, in some ways that they welcomed and that benefited them, and in other ways that were not preferred.
April 25, 2020
Had to read for college cultural anthropology class. Wasn’t bad read but anything I have to read for college usually doesn’t interest, not yet at least. Overall, the story of the Cofan people and how they were affected by the oil industry is pretty fascinating and teaches you a lot about smaller societies.
May 2, 2024
Very detailed, nuanced, balanced account of the Cofan people and culture and experiences sine the onset of oil exploitation. Inside story from an outsider who gained the trust to provide an insider perspective. Hard at time to keep track of all the people and events as more anthropological than historical. Kept me engaged.
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October 18, 2020Read this for one of my anthropology classes, and it’s one of my favorite books I’ve had to read for a class! I think Cepek is an amazing anthropologist and one of the few “outsiders” in the world who truly understands the Cofán.
December 24, 2021
Read for my Cultural Anthropology class. I was lucky to have Michael Cepek as my professor!
February 24, 2023
“life in oil is a form of slow, confusing, and ultimately unknowable violence”
July 1, 2024
Good anthropology and fascinating subject. Compelling read but got a bit repetitive; didn’t finish in its entirety
February 6, 2025
I liked Cepek's writing and one of the better contemporary ethnographies I have read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews