Changing territorialities in the Argentine Andes: lithium mining at Salar de Olaroz-Cauchari and Salinas Grandes

In the context of climate change, electro-mobility has become a symbol of hope to reduce the emissions of the growing transport sector. At the same time, it has also renewed interest in strategic resources utilized in battery production, such as lithium. In the areas of extraction, reactions to lithium mining range from hope for paid work and increased in-come to resistance and conflict. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork stays realized between February 2018 and August 2019, this article associates the opposed reactions to lithium mining in the communities of the drainage basins of Salar de Olaroz-Cauchari and Salinas Grandes-Guayatayoc with divergent territorialities. In doing so, historically different strategies – resistance and negotiation – of dealing with overlapping territorialities can be identified. Based on a reciprocal relationship, different strategies and divergent territorialities are mutually dependent. In the two case studies, the new territoriality related to the global market implies diverging socio-spatial consequences with different risks. Using the example of lithium mining, it can thus be shown that the sustainability transition continues to be based on social-ecological inequalities and global asymmetries of power

Green colonialism in Latin America? Towards a new research agenda for the global energy transition

Drawing on various empirical examples (e.g. lithium, green hydrogen, REDD+), several studies point out that the global energy transition continues to be based on the geographic externalization of labour, natural resources, and sinks. The energy transition thus increases the pressure on natural resources in Latin America and reproduces the continent’s position as the world’s raw material supplier. This is increasingly referred to as ‘green colonialism’ by (scholar) activists. Moving past a merely provocative catchphrase, in this paper, I discuss the analytical implications and value of the term green colonialism for normative political-ecological research. In so doing, it becomes evident that the coloniality of the energy transition has to be understood as a political-epistemological project. This is of particular relevance for Latin America. Embedded in the hegemonic Euro-North American-centered modernity, the energy transition advances techno-optimist solutions and reproduces patterns of thought, knowledge and action. However, it soon becomes evident that the geographies of decarbonization are significantly more complex and shaped by multiple actors, policies, and strategies. Therefore, further research is needed on the geopolitics and geopolitical economy of the energy transition, going beyond the North-South dichotomy. Resumen: ¿Colonialismo verde en Latinoamérica? Hacia una nueva agenda de investigación para la transición energética mundial A partir de diversos ejemplos empíricos (litio, hidrógeno verde, REDD+), varios estudios señalan que la transición energética global sigue basándose en la externalización geográfica de mano de obra, recursos naturales y sumideros. La transición energética aumenta así la presión sobre los recursos naturales en Latinoamérica y reproduce la posición del continente como proveedor mundial de materias primas. Los activistas (académicos) se refieren cada vez más a este fenómeno como “colonialismo verde”. Más allá de un eslogan meramente provocador, en este artículo discuto las implicaciones analíticas y el valor del término colonialismo verde para la investigación político-ecológica normativa. Al hacerlo, se hace evidente que la colonialidad de la transición energética debe entenderse como un proyecto político-epistemológico. Esto es de particular relevancia para Latinoamérica. Inserta en la modernidad hegemónica euro-norteamericana, la transición energética avanza soluciones tecno-optimistas y reproduce patrones de pensamiento, conocimiento y acción. Sin embargo, pronto se hace evidente que las geografías de la descarbonización son significativamente más complejas y están conformadas por múltiples actores, políticas y estrategias. Por lo tanto, es necesario seguir investigando sobre la geopolítica y la economía geopolítica de la transición energética, más allá de la dicotomía norte-sur

(Counter-)Imperial Mode of Living and Surviving: contextualizations from South America

The notion of the imperial mode of living (IML) has been widely taken up in both academic, activist and sociopolitical contexts. More recently, scholars have begun to explore the concept not only theoretically, but also empirically, dealing with how the IML works in practice. We see great potential for human geography to ground the IML. To do so, in this article we introduce a set of five geographical cornerstones on the IML, stating that (1) the IML demonstrates that capitalism requires a non-capitalist outside, (2) the IML relies on infrastructural colonialism constituted by global value chains, (3) the IML is tied to current notions of development, (4) the critique of the IML concept challenges the patriarchal order and that (5) the IML conditions a counter-imperial mode of living. Reflecting on soybean cultivation, transhumance and lithium mining in South America, we show that grounding the IML not only requires a critical analysis of the dominant power relations, but also a consideration of opposing tendencies. In this context, we observe that a reproduction of global discourses inherent to the IML often leads to an ‘imperial mode of surviving’ locally. In contrast, we understand protest movements and conflicts as a ‘counter-imperial mode of living’

Green colonialism in Latin America? Towards a new research agenda for the global energy transition

Drawing on various empirical examples (e.g. lithium, green hydrogen, REDD+), several studies point out that the global energy transition continues to be based on the geographic externalization of labour, natural resources, and sinks. The energy transition thus increases the pressure on natural resources in Latin America and reproduces the continent’s position as the world’s raw material supplier. This is increasingly referred to as ‘green colonialism’ by (scholar) activists. Moving past a merely provocative catchphrase, in this paper, I discuss the analytical implications and value of the term green colonialism for normative political-ecological research. In so doing, it becomes evident that the coloniality of the energy transition has to be understood as a political-epistemological project. This is of particular relevance for Latin America. Embedded in the hegemonic Euro-North American-centered modernity, the energy transition advances techno-optimist solutions and reproduces patterns of thought, knowledge and action. However, it soon becomes evident that the geographies of decarbonization are significantly more complex and shaped by multiple actors, policies, and strategies. Therefore, further research is needed on the geopolitics and geopolitical economy of the energy transition, going beyond the North-South dichotomy. Resumen: ¿Colonialismo verde en Latinoamérica? Hacia una nueva agenda de investigación para la transición energética mundialA partir de diversos ejemplos empíricos (litio, hidrógeno verde, REDD+), varios estudios señalan que la transición energética global sigue basándose en la externalización geográfica de mano de obra, recursos naturales y sumideros. La transición energética aumenta así la presión sobre los recursos naturales en Latinoamérica y reproduce la posición del continente como proveedor mundial de materias primas. Los activistas (académicos) se refieren cada vez más a este fenómeno como “colonialismo verde”. Más allá de un eslogan meramente provocador, en este artículo discuto las implicaciones analíticas y el valor del término colonialismo verde para la investigación político-ecológica normativa. Al hacerlo, se hace evidente que la colonialidad de la transición energética debe entenderse como un proyecto político-epistemológico. Esto es de particular relevancia para Latinoamérica. Inserta en la modernidad hegemónica euro-norteamericana, la transición energética avanza soluciones tecno-optimistas y reproduce patrones de pensamiento, conocimiento y acción. Sin embargo, pronto se hace evidente que las geografías de la descarbonización son significativamente más complejas y están conformadas por múltiples actores, políticas y estrategias. Por lo tanto, es necesario seguir investigando sobre la geopolítica y la economía geopolítica de la transición energética, más allá de la dicotomía norte-sur. 

Fabio Luisi dirige la Staatskapelle Dresden

Argentine soy production from the 1990s to the 2010s has shown major shifts in both production techniques and the ping-pong-relationships between the agribusiness and national governments. The objective of this paper is to introduce a new statistics-based perspective on soy production in Argentina. We analyse variables of technological innovation, weather, price, territorial expansion, and the role of the state to show the extent of influence these variables have on the decision-making of agribusiness representatives and subsequent production and export of soy. As a result, we show that the primary resource ‘soybean’ does not equal the soy commodities that are exported: National refinement does occur, watering down the re-primarization argument within the debate on neo-extractivism and re-defining the actual role of national governments from steering power of ‘what’ and ‘how much’ is produced to ‘in what form’ soybeans are exported.A produção argentina de soja da década de 1990 até a década de 2010 mostrou grandes mudanças, tantonas técnicas de produção, quanto nas relações de “pingue-pongue” entre o agronegócio e os governosnacionais. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar uma nova perspectiva, baseada em estatísticas, sobrea produção de soja na Argentina. Analisamos as variáveis de inovação tecnológica, previsão do tempo,preço, expansão territorial e o papel do Estado, para mostrar a extensão de suas influências na tomadade decisões por parte dos representantes do agronegócio e para subsequente produção e exportaçãode soja. Como resultado, mostramos que o recurso primário ‘soja’ não é igual às commodities de sojaque são exportadas: o refinamento nacional ocorre diluindo o argumento de primarização no debate sobre o neoextrativismo e redefinindo o papel real da soja. Os governos nacionais controlam o poderde ‘o quê’ e ‘quanto’ é produzido para decidir ‘sob que forma’ a soja será exportada