Extractivism and Environmental Justice in Latin America and the Global South

Full course description

Extractivism is a name given by activists and scholars to the boom of large-scale, export-led, capital-intensive resource extraction projects, including mining, fossil fuels, and agro-industries, adopted by many countries and regions as a "development strategy". This course will explore the phenomenon of extractivism and related development megaprojects in the context of neoliberal and post-neoliberal economies in the so-called Global South.

Case studies will focus on Latin America but may also include cases from all the Global South. We will explore environmental controversies related to communities' disputes for land, water, and local autonomy. We will also focus on governments' and corporations' responses to the increasing social protest and society's demands for better practices, sustainability, and wealth distribution. Problems will be discussed from the perspective of political ecology and environmental justice, anthropology, and human geography.

Tasks will dwell on topics such as the invention of "underdevelopment", Environmental Impact Assessments, Corporate Social Responsibility, the legal frameworks available for ethnic minorities, the contradictions in the economic valuation of socio-environmental impacts, and the relationship between science and local knowledge, among others. We will pay special attention to concepts, theories, and alternatives emerging from the collaboration of local communities, activists, and critical scholars. We will also reflect on what social movements' experiences can teach us in a world increasingly concerned with climate change, resource depletion, and human rights.