Synopses & Reviews
Contested Powers looks specifically at the role of fossil fuels and renewable energy in the economic development of countries in Latin America. The contributors to this volume argue that the two currently dominant approaches to energy policy—either a focus on energy conservation or a focus on creating renewable energy resources—are actually two sides of the same coin. Both approaches are hindered by an underlying division of labor and capital that puts the means for ecologically sound technological advancement in the hands of a minority. The essays in Contested Powers go beyond Latin America to demonstrate that the key to addressing climate change and sustainable development around the globe is to first address the relationship between political and financial power and energy use and resources.
Synopsis
In the global north the commoditization of creativity and knowledge under the banner of a creative economy is being posed as the post-industrial answer to dependency on labour and natural resources. Not only does it promise a more stable and sustainable future, but an economy focused on intellectual property is more environmentally friendly, so it is suggested.
Resource Sovereigns argues that the fixes being offered by this model, popularised by market economics since the end of World War II, are bluffs; that development in the global south continues to be hindered by a global division of labour and nature that puts the capacity for technological advancement in private hands. The authors call for a multilayered understanding of sovereignty (an ostensibly outdated political concept in the world of global capital) arguing that it holds the key to undermining rigid accounts of the relationship between carbon and democracy, energy and development, and energy and political expression. Furthermore, a critical focus on energy politics is crucial to wider debates on development and sustainability.
Essential reading for those wondering how energy resources are converted into political power and why we still value the energy we take from our surroundings more than the means of its extraction.
About the Author
John-Andrew McNeish is a social anthropologist with experience in research, education, and consultancy.Axel Borchgrevink is associate professor at the Institute for International Studies and Interpreter Education in Oslo, Norway.Owen Logan is a photographer, writer, and a research fellow at the University of Aberdeen. He is also a contributing editor to Variant Magazine.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Recovering Power from Energy: Reconsidering the Linkages between Energy and Development in Latin America and Beyond -
John Andrew McNeish, Owen Logan & Axel BorchgrevinkPart One: Lifeworlds and Energetic States
1. Socio-environmental conflicts and territorial disputes in Guatemala: Petroleum exploitation in the Maya Biosphere Reserve - Virgilio Reyes, FLACSO Guatemala
2. Petroleum activity and environmental injustice in Venezuela: an ethnography of of the community of Punta Cardon - Maria Victoria Canino, IVIC Venezuela
3. Conflict over Windfarms, Oaxaca, Mexico - Dominic Boyer, Rice University, USA
Part Two: National Visions and Contested Strategies
4. Gracias a Dios y al gobierno! Electric power struggles and discourses in Nicaraguan politics - Axel Borchgrevink, HIOA Norway
5. The politics of distributing hydrocarbon rents in Bolivia: The Gasolinazo of 2010 - Fernanda Wanderley, CIDES UMSA Bolivia
6. The Pre-Salt of the Earth? Social and political struggles over Brazil's newfound oil - Einar Braathen, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR).
Part Three: Porous Borders
7. Contested Powers: Energy Choices and Energy Struggles in Latin America - John-Andrew McNeish, UMB &CMI Norway
8. Sovereign Loss, Sovereign Things: The smuggling of energy resources from Bolivia to Peru - Cecilie Odegaard, UiB Norway
9. Doing Well in the Eyes of Capital: Neoliberal Therapeutics from Venezuela to Scotland - Owen Logan, University of Aberdeen
10. The Emperor's New Clothes: Biofuels Discourse in Brazil - Donald Sawyer, Center for Sustainable Development (CDS), University of Brasilia
Conclusion: Resource Sovereignties and the limits of 'Latin America'