Amalgamation: A Political Ethnography of Mining Conflict in Colombia

In the current era of hyper-industrialized capitalism, clashes between global agendas of economic growth and local interests in livelihood and ecology are everywhere. Working with experts on extractivism at the University of New Brunswick, I take gold mining in Colombia as a productive lens to analyze these scalar clashes of late capitalism. Against the backdrop of Colombiaâ??s increasing reliance on gold-mining corporations, my research proposal asks: What are the relations of conflict and cohabitation that emerge when large- and small-scale miners compete for the same gold reserves? While the literature on mining conflicts focuses on eye-catching moments of dispossession and social protest, the proposed project draws attention to the everyday life of conflict. It explores ethnographically the day-to-day power struggles and relations of conviviality that unfold when companies confront communities. To this end, the project approaches mining politics as a politics of â??amalgamation.â? This concept captures the fact that conflicting mining scales, governance systems, and production rationalitiesâ??although maintaining tense relations with one anotherâ??continually come together in compromised moments of coexistence. The research will result in four scientific articles, three popular publications, a conference on resource extraction, and a special issue on extractivism.