Environmental history and the political ecology of extractivism in La Guajira, Colombia

本研究探讨了20世纪70年代安装的露天煤矿引发的哥伦比亚北部瓜希拉省的社会生态冲突。这个地区，包括委内瑞拉的一部分，历史上一直是瓦尤人的土地，这是哥伦比亚人口最多的土著群体。非洲后裔在逃离奴隶制和有组织的定居点后在那里定居。在开矿之前，这些农村社区在贸易和获得水等服务方面建立了牢固的联系；他们曾经有一个生存经济（乔姆斯基，2016）。拉瓜吉拉的自然环境是一系列生态系统，从沙漠到干燥的热带森林，“构成了一个重要的地方性地区”（UlloaDelgado,2016）。p . 10)。该地区在历史上也缺乏政府的关注，是哥伦比亚最贫穷的地区之一，婴儿死亡率很高。44.9%的土著人口和14%的非洲后裔因流离失所和/或搬迁到城市定居点而面临污染、水资源短缺和生计丧失（Munera Montes等，2014）。在这种背景下，通过探索瓜吉拉的“环境史”（Armiero和Sedrez， 2014），我将分析矿山建立前后不断变化的社会生态关系，以及“行星城市化”的概念（Brenner和Schmid， 2012）如何使我们建立联系，以便将这些偏远地区的关系作为全球城市结构的一个组成部分加以理解和分析。目的：(i)重建/构建拉瓜希拉社会生态关系的环境史，以建立环境变化的叙述，并提供采矿对该地区人民和生态系统影响的证据。（ii）使用“政治生态学”作为关键镜头来分析地球城市化背景下采掘业产生的社会生态关系和图表转变。发展一种跨学科的方法，制定一种关于联系和关系的叙述性环境历史。利用参与式行动研究共同制作社区地图、口述历史和记录和代表社会生态转变的对象和实践档案，以促进大众教育材料的生产。这项研究可以通过开发一种跨学科的方法来关注生活在活跃矿区的人们的经验和“情境知识”（Haraway, 1998），从而可能对有关采矿的社会生态影响的知识做出重大贡献

This research explores the socioecological conflict in La Guajira, a province in the north of Colombia, arising from an opencastcoalmine installed in the 1970s. This area, including part of Venezuela, has been the historical land of the Wayuu people,an indigenous group with the highest population in Colombia. Afro-descendants established there after they run away fromslavery and organised settlements. Before the mine, these rural communities have established strong links in trading, and theaccess to services such as water; they used to have a survival economy (Chomsky, 2016). The natural environment in LaGuajira is a range of ecosystems from desert to dry tropical forest and 'constitutes an important area for endemism' (UlloaDelgado,2016. P. 10). This region has also lacked government attention historically and is one of the poorest in Colombiawith a high infant mortality. 44.9% of the population there are Indigenous and 14% Afro-descendants facing pollution, waterscarcity, and the loss of livelihoods due to their displacement and/or relocation to urban settlements (Munera Montes, et al,2014).In this context, by exploring the 'environmental history' (Armiero and Sedrez, 2014) of La Guajira, I will analyse changingsocioecological relations before and after the establishment of the mine, and how the concept of 'planetary urbanisation'(Brenner and Schmid, 2012) allows us to make connections so that relations from such remote areas become understood andanalysed as an integral part of the worldwide urban fabric.Aims:(i) Re/construct an environmental history of the socioecological relations in La Guajira in order to build a narrative ofenvironmental change and provide evidence of the impact of mining on both people and the ecosystem in the region.(ii) Use 'political ecology' as a critical lens to analyse the socioecological relations and chart transformations produced byextractive industries in the context of planetary urbanisation.(iii) Develop a transdisciplinary methodology that enacts a narrative environmental history of connections and relations.Use participatory action research to co-produce community mapping, oral history, and an archive of objects and practicesrecording and representing socioecological transformations to facilitate the production of material for popular education.The research can potentially make a significant contribution to knowledge around the socioecological impacts of mining bydeveloping an interdisciplinary methodology which focuses on the experiences and 'situated knowledge' (Haraway, 1998) ofthe people living in areas with active mines