Illegible infrastructures: Road building and the making of state-spaces in the Colombian Amazon

The Amazon is currently experiencing a rapid growth in the building of transport infrastructures. While national governments have portrayed infrastructure development as greatly enhancing economic and geographical integration, critical approaches largely describe such development as a destructive process of resource extraction and dispossession. While these views differ radically in relation to the ends and effects of current and future infrastructure projects, they both conceive infrastructure as reflective of an inexorable process of state and capitalist expansion region-wide. Less attention has been paid, however, to the ways in which this very process is conditioned, and sometimes hindered, by a wide array of normative, social and political (dis) orders. In this paper, I draw attention to the ever conflicting and contingent nature of infrastructure building through an ethnographic account of the land conflicts present in an ongoing road project in the Colombian region of Putumayo. Specifically, I look at the tensions and disputes arising from the project’s attempts to make a target space and population legible in order to make them governable. By showing how such attempts have consistently failed and led the project into various states of suspension and uncertainty, the paper sheds light on the deep embedding of infrastructure in everyday dynamics of state-making and unmaking. © The Author(s) 2018

Frontier roads: Space and power in the history of the Amazonian foothills of colombia

Objective/context: This article analyzes of ethnographic, geographical and cartographic discourses around transportation infrastructure plans and projects in the Andean-Amazonian foothills of southern Colombia. Specifically, it shows how the colonial and postcolonial vision of the foothills as a physical and symbolic frontier between a “civilized” and a “savage” world has been instrumental in the conception and execution of such plans and projects, and, more broadly, in the control and appropriation of the Amazonian region. Originality: Usually, historical works on the Colombian nation-building have adopted a monolithic and centric vision of infrastructure because development has historically been confined to a limited portion of the national territory. On the contrary, this article focuses on the role of regions considered “frontiers”, “peripheries” or “margins” in the construction and legitimation of a hegemonic state project. Methodology: The research is based on the analysis and contrasting of primary sources such as travelers’ accounts, cartographic representations, and missionary and government archives. Conclusions: By establishing historical continuity in the discourses and infrastructure practices of the Andean-Amazonian foothills, we can conclude that these are part of a long-standing tradition in which the foothills is seen as a frontier, and roads and highways are viewed as “civilizing” infrastructure of the Amazonian space. © 2019, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota Colombia. All rights reserved

The Winding Ways of Development: A Historical Journey of a Road in the Putumayo Region of Colombia

Roads are by nature a contested subject. Although they represent vital infrastructure to enable the flow of people, goods and ideas, their potential detrimental effects for humans and the environment have been a constant source of debate and criticism. This is particularly true for natural resource-rich regions such as the Amazon, where the development of roads has been directly associated with rampant deforestation and resource extraction, uncontrolled colonization and dispossession of indigenous lands. Yet the impact of roads goes far beyond their direct social and environmental costs and benefits. In many places of the world, roads have a strong evocative power, as they represent spaces that materially and symbolically embody ideas such as „modernity,‟ „progress,‟ „backwardness‟ and „development.‟ Combining multi-sited ethnography and historical analysis, this photo essay attempts to document the past, present, and likely future of a road in Putumayo, a region of southwest Colombia that has been traditionally considered a marginal frontier, and which has also become internationally known for the production of cocaine and the violence that has come with it. The road, as I will try to show, invites reflection about the complexities inherent to the different meanings and realities of development

Suspensión: espacio, tiempo y política en la historia interminable de un proyecto de infraestructura en el piedemonte Andino-Amazónico colombiano

En este artículo indago las tensiones, incertidumbres y expectativas que emergen en el espacio-tiempo indefinido que transcurre entre la concepción y materialización de un megaproyecto de carretera en el piedemonte Andino-Amazónico colombiano. Hago énfasis en la condición de suspensión como un estado inherente de la infraestructura que trastoca su sentido teleológico y configura un espacio material y afectivo en el que coexisten, en permanente estado de tensión y antagonismo, el presente, el pasado y el futuro de un territorio de frontera. El análisis presentado en el texto deriva del seguimiento etnográfico y fotográfico al proyecto mencionado por un periodo de diez años (2008-2019). A través de visitas de campo regulares, documento las transiciones temporales y materiales de la infraestructura, así como las reacciones, especulaciones y prácticas cotidianas asociadas a estas transiciones. Al describir diferentes eventos y conflictos alrededor de este proyecto de carretera, muestro cómo la noción de suspensión permite construir una narrativa diferente de las infraestructuras, que da cuenta de sus trayectorias inciertas y múltiples dimensiones. En este sentido, concluyo que la suspensión no es, como se suele concebir, un punto de congelamiento que interrumpe un movimiento lineal y cronológico, sino que constituye una condición inherente y activa de la infraestructura que revela la relación inestable y conflictiva entre los diferentes elementos que la componen. Desde una perspectiva histórica y etnográfica centrada en la materialidad, el artículo contribuye a la comprensión de la infraestructura como proceso más que como producto, así como al entendimiento de los diferentes actores humanos y no humanos que intervienen en su ciclo de construcción y descomposición.In this article I investigate the tensions, uncertainties and expectations that emerge in the indefinite space-time that elapses between the conception and materialization of a highway megaproject in the Andean-Amazonian foothills of Colombia. I emphasize the condition of suspension as an inherent state of the infrastructure that disrupts its teleological sense and configures a material and affective space in which coexist, in a permanent state of tension and antagonism, the present, the past and the future of a border territory. The analysis presented in the text derives from the ethnographic and photographic monitoring of the project for a period of ten years (2008-2019). Through regular field visits, I document the temporal and material transitions of the infrastructure, as well as the reactions, speculations and daily practices associated with these transitions. By describing different events and conflicts around this road project, I show how the notion of suspension allows for the construction of a different narrative of infrastructures, which accounts for their uncertain trajectories and multiple dimensions. In this sense, I conclude that suspension is not, as it is usually conceived, a freezing point that interrupts a linear and chronological movement, but constitutes an inherent and active condition of infrastructure that reveals the unstable and conflicting relationship between the different elements that compose it. From a historical and ethnographic perspective focused on materiality, the article contributes to the understanding of infrastructure as a process rather than as a product, as well as to the understanding of the different human and non-human actors involved in its cycle of construction and decomposition

Oxygen: From Toxic Waste to Optimal (Toxic) Fuel of Life

Some 2.5 billion years ago, the great oxygenation event (GOE) led to a 105‐fold rise in atmospheric oxygen [O2], killing most species on Earth. In spite of the tendency to produce toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS), the highly exergonic reduction of O2 made it the ideal biological electron acceptor. During aerobic metabolism, O2 is reduced to water liberating energy, which is coupled to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis. Today, all organisms either aerobic or not need to deal with O2 toxicity. O2‐permeant organisms need to seek adequate [O2], for example, aquatic crustaceans bury themselves in the sea bottom where O2 is scarce. Also, the intestinal lumen and cytoplasm of eukaryotes is a microaerobic environment where many facultative bacteria or intracellular symbionts hide from oxygen. Organisms such as plants, fish, reptiles and mammals developed O2‐impermeable epithelia, plus specialized external respiratory systems in combination with O2‐binding proteins such as hemoglobin or leg‐hemoglobin control [O2] in tissues. Inside the cell, ROS production is prevented by rapid O2 consumption during the oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) of ATP. When ATP is in excess, OxPhos becomes uncoupled in an effort to continue eliminating O2. Branched respiratory chains, unspecific pores and uncoupling proteins (UCPs) uncouple OxPhos. One last line of resistance against ROS is deactivation by enzymes such as super oxide dismutase and catalase. Aerobic organisms profit from the high energy released by the reduction of O2, while at the same time they need to avoid the toxicity of ROS

The Trampoline of death: Infrastructural violence in Colombia’s Putumayo frontier

Roads are usually conceived as technologies aimed at improving peoples’ economic and social welfare. As they are commonly portrayed as synonymous with mobility and with access to markets, jobs and services, their existence tends to be assumed as a major catalyst for development. This view often obscures the ways in which they affect people’s lives. This article seeks to shed light on this dimension of transport infrastructure through a historical account of a road in Colombia’s Andean-Amazon region. Infamously known as the Trampoline of death, this road has turned into an infrastructural landscape heavily invested with feelings of fear, isolation, disconnection and abandonment. Although these feelings are usually assumed as expressions of political and territorial exclusion, I will argue that, at deeper level, they reflect the violent ways in which this region has been discursively and materially included into the state. © The Author(s) 2019

Constructing the tropics: Nineteenth Century British representations of Colombia

This paper considers nineteenth Century British travel accounts of Colombia. By analysing how those travellers represented the country, it aims to explore the different ways in which “the tropics” were imagined, experienced and constructed. On the one hand, it is suggested that those representations helped to forge an image of the country as a promising nature inhabited by backward races, underpinning a widespread vision of the tropic: that of a vacant space abounding of exploitable natural resources waiting to be transformed by Europeans’ ‘civilized’ hands and endeavour. On the other hand, contested and often contradictory ideas that those travellers harboured about climate and European acclimatization are explored, suggesting that Europeans’ perceptions of the tropic resulted from a permanent negotiation between images brought from home and the landscapes they encountered. To conclude, it is argued that those constructions are revealing of how travel writing was above all a cultural practice, where the traveller’s vision is not exclusively determined by established paradigms, but transformed by the landscapes he encounters and interacts with

El Death’s Trampoline: A violent inclusion path to the state

La densa niebla y los constantes deslizamientos solo permiten fijar la atención y el temor en los profundos precipicios que han cobrado la vida de muchas personas. Así es el Trampolín de la muerte que comunica a San Francisco con Mocoa y sirve de conexión entre esta región fronteriza y el interior del país. Entender cómo las dinámicas de las carreteras reflejan las formas violentas en que la Amazonía se ha incluido de manera discursiva y material en el Estado es el objeto de estudio de Simón Uribe Martínez, quien es PhD en Planeación Regional, magíster en Geografía Humana, y docente e investigador de la Facultad de Estudios Internacionales, Políticos y Urbanos de la Universidad del Rosario.The dense fog and constant landslides only allow one to focus one’s attention and fear on the deep cliffs that have claimed the lives of many persons. This is Death’s Trampoline, which connects San Francisco with Mocoa and connects this border region with the country’s interior. Understanding how road dynamics reflect the violent ways in which the Amazonia has been included in a discursive and material way in the state is the object of study of Simón Uribe Martínez, who has a Ph.D. in Regional Planning and a Master’s degree in Human Geography, and is a professor and researcher of the Faculty of International, Political, and Urban Studies of Universidad del Rosario

El Trampolín de la muerte: camino de incorporación violenta al Estado

La densa niebla y los constantes deslizamientos solo permiten fijar la atención y el temor en los profundos precipicios que han cobrado la vida de muchas personas. Así es el Trampolín de la muerte que comunica a San Francisco con Mocoa y sirve de conexión entre esta región fronteriza y el interior del país. Entender cómo las dinámicas de las carreteras reflejan las formas violentas en que la Amazonía se ha incluido de manera discursiva y material en el Estado es el objeto de estudio de Simón Uribe Martínez, quien es PhD en Planeación Regional, magíster en Geografía Humana, y docente e investigador de la Facultad de Estudios Internacionales, Políticos y Urbanos de la Universidad del Rosario.The dense fog and constant landslides only allow one to focus one’s attention and fear on the deep cliffs that have claimed the lives of many persons. This is Death’s Trampoline, which connects San Francisco with Mocoa and connects this border region with the country’s interior. Understanding how road dynamics reflect the violent ways in which the Amazonia has been included in a discursive and material way in the state is the object of study of Simón Uribe Martínez, who has a Ph.D. in Regional Planning and a Master’s degree in Human Geography, and is a professor and researcher of the Faculty of International, Political, and Urban Studies of Universidad del Rosario