¿Incrustamiento sin espacio? Situando el comercio justo en la industria florícola ecuatoriana

In the last two decades, Fairtrade International has consolidated as the largest fair trade certifier in the world. Much of its growth has involved the expansion of its practices from exclusively certifying cooperatives of smallholder farmers to regulating agroindustries and nonagricultural companies. In hired labor contexts, Fairtrade claims to improve labor and environmental conditions and promote local development and many researchers praise Fairtrade for “re-embedding” economic relations in social and ethnical ones. In this article, I highlight the testimonies of workers on three certified Ecuadorian flower plantations, who acknowledge many of these claims, but remind us that framing Fairtrade as a mechanism for “re-embedding” economic relations elides the desire among workers to leave the flower industry and re-embed their economic relations in local social space. Whereas Polanyi conceives of embeddedness in historically and geographically situated relations, I argue that academic approaches to Fairtrade often misappropriate his notion of the concept by employing it to describe abstract relations between consumers and workers. I place this concept in dialogue with the work of Henri Lefebvre on social space and territory to re-conceptualize what an embedded territorial development might look like under Fairtrade and to foreground the limits and contradictions of this mechanism.   En las últimas dos décadas Fairtrade International se ha consolidada como la certificadora de comercio justo más grande del mundo. Mucho de su crecimiento se debe a la expansión de sus prácticas desde la exclusiva certificación de cooperativas de pequeños agricultores hacia la regulación de agroindustrias y empresas no agrícolas. En contextos de trabajo asalariado, Fairtrade afirma mejorar las condiciones laborales y ambientales y promover el desarrollo local. Muchos investigadores elogian a Fairtrade por “re-incrustar” relaciones económicas en relaciones sociales y éticas. En este artículo, señalo los testimonios de trabajadores de tres florícolas ecuatorianas certificadas, quienes si bien reconocen varias de estas afirmaciones, nos permiten observar que al enmarcar Fairtrade como mecanismo de “re-incrustamiento” se omite el deseo de ellos de dejar la industria floricultura y re-incrustar sus relaciones económicas en las relaciones del espacio social local. Mientras Polanyi concibe el incrustamiento en relaciones histórica y geográficamente situadas, planteo que ciertos acercamientos académicos a Fairtrade se mal apropian de su noción del concepto para describir relaciones abstractas entre consumidores y trabajadores. Pongo este concepto en diálogo con el trabajo de Henri Lefebvre sobre el espacio social y el territorio para re-conceptualizar lo que significaría un desarrollo territorial bajo Fairtrade y subrayar los límites y contradicciones de este mecanismo.

THE MILLENNIUM CITY: OIL POLITICS AND URBANIZATION IN THE NORTHERN ECUADORIAN AMAZON

Oil production in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon has facilitated the urbanization of some of the world’s most biodiverse rainforests. New highways into the jungle, snaking pipelines, and population centers have followed in the wake of oil explorations and drilling over the last fifty years. Oil companies and the state have also sought indigenous consent to oil production in their territories in exchange for infrastructures, such as roads, electrification, and, in a few cases, urban-like settlements. Researchers, environmentalists, and engaged citizens have denounced urban development in indigenous territories as an unsustainable imposition of Western culture on otherwise isolated, unwilling or unwitting communities. However, such narratives overlook the social legacies of prior waves of colonial capitalism in the northern Amazon. Histories of racism and racial capitalism are often erased by ahistorical representations of the Amazon as a timeless, uniform space of pre-Hispanic cultures, effectively obscuring the violence that produced modern Amazonía. In this dissertation, I detail the history of an indigenous community of subsistence farmers, fisher-people, and hunters that recently negotiated with the state oil company to receive an urban-like settlement in the rainforest. I describe their newfound hardships in a place at the far margins of market society, where they lack food, money, and maintenance, and I document nostalgia for farm life. Yet, by the same token, I describe their collective struggles to sustain this so-called “Millennium City,” rather than abandon it. For generations, racism has been a motor driving these families to pursue integration into market relations, Western education, and urban spaces, as strategies to mitigate the physical and symbolic violence of dominant, white society. Today, negotiations over oil production between indigenous communities, the state, and companies in the northern Amazon unfold on an uneven social terrain shaped by centuries of oppression. This dissertation draws on multiple periods of fieldwork over six years that included interviews, video ethnography, and focus groups in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, as well as archival research in the Amazon and Andes.Doctor of Philosoph

Resisting austerity in the era of COVID-19.:Between nationwide mobilisation and decentralised organising in Ecuador

Since 2017, the return of a neoliberal government in Ecuador has been characterized by austerity measures designed to lower state debt, particularly through cuts to social and environmental programs and the privatisation of state institutions. These policies have worsened ongoing economic and environmental crises suffered by the country’s poor, leading to massive protests in October 2019, which temporarily blocked further austerity measures. Yet, in subsequent months, the COVID-19 emergency enabled the government to move forward with neoliberal reforms and with policies promoting the expansion of extractive frontiers and the corporate food system. In this chapter, we examine decentralised organising among anti-neoliberal movements during the pandemic, particularly anti-extractivist and peasant agro-ecological collectives. We confirm prior findings regarding austerity that qualify it as a strategy not only to reduce state expenditure, but also to privately appropriate the commons, actively redirecting wealth to capital. Our research highlights that, in a context where mass protests are hindered by the pandemic, anti-neoliberal resistance in Ecuador operates in flexible articulations or assemblages that respond to shifting contexts. In 2019, marginalized sectors converged on urban political centres, concentrating a popular mass to pressure the central government and later, during COVID-19, local organisations advanced forms of decentralised resistance across the country, constructing or expanding solidarity networks, using legal and digital systems, and mobilizing alliances with local governments. Thus, subaltern anti-neoliberal movements continued to advance a politics of solidarity across changing contexts by flexibly articulating organisationally and tactically

¿Incrustamiento sin espacio? Situando el comercio justo en la industria florícola ecuatoriana

In the last two decades, Fairtrade International has consolidated as the largest fair trade certifier in the world. Much of its growth has involved the expansion of its practices from exclusively certifying cooperatives of smallholder farmers to regulating agroindustries and nonagricultural companies. In hired labor contexts, Fairtrade claims to improve labor and environmental conditions and promote local development and many researchers praise Fairtrade for “re-embedding” economic relations in social and ethnical ones. In this article, I highlight the testimonies of workers on three certified Ecuadorian flower plantations, who acknowledge many of these claims, but remind us that framing Fairtrade as a mechanism for “re-embedding” economic relations elides the desire among workers to leave the flower industry and re-embed their economic relations in local social space. Whereas Polanyi conceives of embeddedness in historically and geographically situated relations, I argue that academic approaches to Fairtrade often misappropriate his notion of the concept by employing it to describe abstract relations between consumers and workers. I place this concept in dialogue with the work of Henri Lefebvre on social space and territory to re-conceptualize what an embedded territorial development might look like under Fairtrade and to foreground the limits and contradictions of this mechanism.   En las últimas dos décadas Fairtrade International se ha consolidada como la certificadora de comercio justo más grande del mundo. Mucho de su crecimiento se debe a la expansión de sus prácticas desde la exclusiva certificación de cooperativas de pequeños agricultores hacia la regulación de agroindustrias y empresas no agrícolas. En contextos de trabajo asalariado, Fairtrade afirma mejorar las condiciones laborales y ambientales y promover el desarrollo local. Muchos investigadores elogian a Fairtrade por “re-incrustar” relaciones económicas en relaciones sociales y éticas. En este artículo, señalo los testimonios de trabajadores de tres florícolas ecuatorianas certificadas, quienes si bien reconocen varias de estas afirmaciones, nos permiten observar que al enmarcar Fairtrade como mecanismo de “re-incrustamiento” se omite el deseo de ellos de dejar la industria floricultura y re-incrustar sus relaciones económicas en las relaciones del espacio social local. Mientras Polanyi concibe el incrustamiento en relaciones histórica y geográficamente situadas, planteo que ciertos acercamientos académicos a Fairtrade se mal apropian de su noción del concepto para describir relaciones abstractas entre consumidores y trabajadores. Pongo este concepto en diálogo con el trabajo de Henri Lefebvre sobre el espacio social y el territorio para re-conceptualizar lo que significaría un desarrollo territorial bajo Fairtrade y subrayar los límites y contradicciones de este mecanismo.

Resistencia en retrospectiva: la multitemporalidad del extractivismo en la Amazonía

Amazonian communities take various political positions in relation to extractivism. These positions are influenced by previous histories of encounter and conflict with the state, extractive companies, and mestizo society. However, much of the research on extractivism suffers from presentiment. In this article, I examine the multi-temporality of conflicts and negotiations in territories with extractive activities through an ethnographic case study in northern Ecuador. I explore the uprising of an indigenous community against an oil company, during which community members invoked different historical moments: the rubber era; the expansion of institutionalized education in the region; and more recent experiences of urban migration. These multiple moments of the longue durée of the colonization of the northern Amazon shaped the aspirations of this community to resist and then negotiate with the oil company and the state, and in turn obtain an urban development project as a form of compensation. Understanding how the past influences conflicts and negotiations over extractivism requires attention to those historical moments that give meaning to the present.As comunidades amazônicas adotam várias posições políticas em relação ao extrativismo. Tais posições são influenciadas por várias histórias anteriores de encontros e desacordos com o Estado, empresas extrativistas e a sociedade mestiça. No entanto, grande parte das pesquisas sobre extrativismo sofre de presenteísmo. Neste artigo, examino a multitemporalidade dos conflitos e negociações em territórios com atividades extrativistas, por médio de um estudo de caso etnográfico no norte do Equador. Exploro a sublevação de uma comunidade indígena contra uma empresa de petróleo, durante a qual os membros da comunidade invocaram diferentes momentos históricos: a era da borracha, a expansão da educação institucionalizada na região, além de experiências mais recentes de migração urbana. Esses múltiplos momentos da longue durée de colonização no norte da Amazônia moldaram as aspirações dessa comunidade de resistir e depois negociar com a petroleira e o Estado, e assim obter um projeto de urbanismo como forma de compensação. Para entender como o passado influencia os conflitos e as negociações do extrativismo, é preciso atentar para aqueles momentos históricos que dão sentido ao presente.Las comunidades amazónicas adoptan diversas posiciones políticas en relación con el extractivismo. En tales posiciones influyen las diversas historias previas de encuentro y desencuentro con el Estado, las empresas extractivas y la sociedad mestiza. Sin embargo, gran parte de las investigaciones sobre el extractivismo sufren de presentismo. En este artículo examino la multitemporalidad de conflictos y negociaciones en territorios con actividades extractivas, a través de un estudio de caso etnográfico en el norte de Ecuador. Exploro el levantamiento de una comunidad indígena contra una compañía petrolera, durante el cual los miembros de la comunidad invocaron distintos momentos históricos: la época del caucho; la expansión de la educación institucionalizada en la región; y experiencias más recientes de migración urbana. Estos múltiples momentos de la longue durée de la colonización en la Amazonía norte dieron forma a las aspiraciones de esta comunidad para resistir y luego negociar con la petrolera y el Estado, y obtener así un proyecto de desarrollo urbanístico como forma de compensación. Para comprender cómo el pasado influye en conflictos y negociaciones sobre el extractivismo, se requiere prestar atención a esos momentos históricos que dan sentido al presente

The negotiation of fair trade standards within Ecuadorian flower plantations

La adopción de estándares de comercio justo se concibe como una forma de garantizar una producción–en países menos desarrollados– en condiciones sociales y ambientales justas, a la vez que se permite a los productores entrar en mercados diferenciados –por lo general en los países del Norte. Sin embargo, para comprender la real naturaleza de las medidas que estos certicados de producción promueven, es necesario profundizar en las relaciones de poder de los actores envueltos. Para el caso del Ecuador, las empresas orícolas certicadas con el sello Fairtrade International (FLO) desarrollan sus prácticas en entornos a menudo de corte paternalista que, lejos de empoderar a la mano de obra, re-posicionan las jerarquías del mundo laboral y contribuyen a interiorizar en los trabajadores las exigencias de losmercados.Fairtrade International (FLO) applies requirements or “standards” for certification in agroindustries in order to channel resources to workers, improve their conditions, and “empower” them, even requiring freedom of association. Researchers have signaled a “dilution” (Jaffee, 2012) of standards in recent years. I take into account the case of the Ecuadorian cut-flower industry to show that FLO’s impacts on power relations ought to be analyzed not in terms of the standards, but rather in terms of the local negotiation of standards within territorial power relations. For this case, I point out that before FLO’s criticisms of conventional market mechanisms, standards generate better conditions, but also facilitate the re-consolidation of labor control. 

Las negociaciones en turno a estándares de comercio justo dentro de €florícolas ecuatorianas

Fairtrade International (FLO) applies requirements or “standards” for certification in agroindustries in order to channel resources to workers, improve their conditions, and “empower” them, even requiring freedom of association. Researchers have signaled a “dilution” (Jaffee, 2012) of standards in recent years. I take into account the case of the Ecuadorian cut-flower industry to show that FLO’s impacts on power relations ought to be analyzed not in terms of the standards, but rather in terms of the local negotiation of standards within territorial power relations. For this case, I point out that before FLO’s criticisms of conventional market mechanisms, standards generate better conditions, but also facilitate the re-consolidation of labor control.   La adopción de estándares de comercio justo se concibe como una forma de garantizar una producción–en países menos desarrollados– en condiciones sociales y ambientales justas, a la vez que se permite a los productores entrar en mercados diferenciados –por lo general en los países del Norte. Sin embargo, para comprender la real naturaleza de las medidas que estos certi‚cados de producción promueven, es necesario profundizar en las relaciones de poder de los actores envueltos. Para el caso del Ecuador, las empresas ƒorícolas certi‚cadas con el sello Fairtrade International (FLO) desarrollan sus prácticas en entornos a menudo de corte paternalista que, lejos de empoderar a la mano de obra, re-posicionan las jerarquías del mundo laboral y contribuyen a interiorizar en los trabajadores las exigencias de losmercados

Resistência em retrospectiva: a multitemporalidade do extrativismo na Amazônia

Amazonian communities take various political positions in relation to extractivism. These positions are influenced by previous histories of encounter and conflict with the state, extractive companies, and mestizo society. However, much of the research on extractivism suffers from presentiment. In this article, I examine the multi-temporality of conflicts and negotiations in territories with extractive activities through an ethnographic case study in northern Ecuador. I explore the uprising of an indigenous community against an oil company, during which community members invoked different historical moments: the rubber era; the expansion of institutionalized education in the region; and more recent experiences of urban migration. These multiple moments of the longue durée of the colonization of the northern Amazon shaped the aspirations of this community to resist and then negotiate with the oil company and the state, and in turn obtain an urban development project as a form of compensation. Understanding how the past influences conflicts and negotiations over extractivism requires attention to those historical moments that give meaning to the present.Las comunidades amazónicas adoptan diversas posiciones políticas en relación con el extractivismo. En tales posiciones influyen las diversas historias previas de encuentro y desencuentro con el Estado, las empresas extractivas y la sociedad mestiza. Sin embargo, gran parte de las investigaciones sobre el extractivismo sufren de presentismo. En este artículo examino la multitemporalidad de conflictos y negociaciones en territorios con actividades extractivas, a través de un estudio de caso etnográfico en el norte de Ecuador. Exploro el levantamiento de una comunidad indígena contra una compañía petrolera, durante el cual los miembros de la comunidad invocaron distintos momentos históricos: la época del caucho; la expansión de la educación institucionalizada en la región; y experiencias más recientes de migración urbana. Estos múltiples momentos de la longue durée de la colonización en la Amazonía norte dieron forma a las aspiraciones de esta comunidad para resistir y luego negociar con la petrolera y el Estado, y obtener así un proyecto de desarrollo urbanístico como forma de compensación. Para comprender cómo el pasado influye en conflictos y negociaciones sobre el extractivismo, se requiere prestar atención a esos momentos históricos que dan sentido al presente.As comunidades amazônicas adotam várias posições políticas em relação ao extrativismo. Tais posições são influenciadas por várias histórias anteriores de encontros e desacordos com o Estado, empresas extrativistas e a sociedade mestiça. No entanto, grande parte das pesquisas sobre extrativismo sofre de presenteísmo. Neste artigo, examino a multitemporalidade dos conflitos e negociações em territórios com atividades extrativistas, por médio de um estudo de caso etnográfico no norte do Equador. Exploro a sublevação de uma comunidade indígena contra uma empresa de petróleo, durante a qual os membros da comunidade invocaram diferentes momentos históricos: a era da borracha, a expansão da educação institucionalizada na região, além de experiências mais recentes de migração urbana. Esses múltiplos momentos da longue durée de colonização no norte da Amazônia moldaram as aspirações dessa comunidade de resistir e depois negociar com a petroleira e o Estado, e assim obter um projeto de urbanismo como forma de compensação. Para entender como o passado influencia os conflitos e as negociações do extrativismo, é preciso atentar para aqueles momentos históricos que dão sentido ao presente