Collaborative Proposal: The Impact of Oil Extraction, Regulatory Policy, and Environmental Practice on Native Amazon and Afro-Ecuadorian Communities

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Dr. Gabriela Valdivia (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Dr. Flora Lu (UC Santa Cruz) will collaborate in research to investigate the effects of regulatory changes on the relationships between government, industry, and communities. The research will take place in Huaorani communities in the Amazon region of Ecuador, a major site of seismic exploration and oil extraction, as well as in the coastal city of Esmeraldas, adjacent to the nation's main oil refinery. Valdivia and Lu will conduct a combination of archival, ethnographic, household economic, and survey approaches to characterize the new regulatory framework; examine who lives in oil communities and how their daily routines and activities intersect with this extractive industry; and explore the lived, visceral experience and perceptions of oil, with attention to gendered and generational dynamics. In collaboration with Ecuadorian scholars, they will undertake focus groups, key informant interviews, archival research, participant observation, time allocation studies, household economic diaries, surveys (on topics including dietary intake, perceived health and well-being), and participatory mapping and photography in six study communities. Ecuador, like other countries in South America, has recently sought strategies to reduce its dependency on foreign direct investment and imported energy. The project contributes significantly to anthropological and broader social scientific analyses of environmental and energy policy, and analyses of regulation and public policy. The project will integrate the material from this research into coursework at both the graduate and undergraduate level in both the U.S. and Latin America. There are also well developed plans for the international exchange of experiences, ideas, and solutions among scientists focused on energy and environmental policy.