Amazonia and the cultural politics of extractivism: Sumak Kawsay and Block 20 of Ecuador

ABSTRACT

This article explores the dynamics of power and ideology that congeal around the narrative of Sumak Kawsay, or Good Living in Ecuador. My purpose is document these social and cultural logics of extractivist capitalism through a detailed ethnography of these processes within indigenous communities in Ecuador. Specifically, I focus on the communities within Block 20 of Amazonian Ecuador, the site of the Pungarayacu heavy petroleum project, 2008–2015, in the Province of Napo. The paper provides an analysis and ethnographic examples of the political, social and cultural relations that defined the implementation of the heavy petroleum project in the region; the analysis details not only the close connections among the State, the company, and local governments, but also the way indigenous communities were controlled and subordinated to the interests of extractivism. My argument is that, for Amazonian communities located in strategic zones, extractivism is a sphere of exchange that is intimately connected with development. Development and its ideology of Good Living naturalize and legitimate extractivist activities, and allow capitalism to expand and adapt to different State logics. The narrative of Good Living, I conclude, is ideological. Its true purpose is not social welfare or the reform of capitalism, but rather power.

KEYWORDS:

• Ecuador
• extractivism
• Sumak Kawsay
• Napo
• Kichwa
• power
• ideology

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Napo Runa people for their generosity and hospitality over the past 21 years of living and working with them. I also thank the inhabitants of the Pueblo Kichwa of Rukullakta (PKR), Pano, and Sapo Rumi. I am indebted to Frederick Damon and the other panelists for the 2011 session, ‘From Capital to Chaos: Honoring Fred Damon,’ American Anthropological Association, Montreal, Canada. I thank the Escuela Inercultural Bilingüe of Pano and the Dirección Intercultural Bilingüe de Napo. Lastly, I would like to thank Carmen Martínez, Pavel Shlossberg, Charles Hale, Jean Rahier, and others who provided comments at LASA in Lima, Peru (2017) and in Bogotá, Colombia for the Congress of Colombian Anthropology (2017).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Michael A. Uzendoski has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Virginia. He is Professor and Coordinator of the Master’s Program in Anthropology at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, FLACSO Ecuador. He is the author of The Napo Runa of Amazonian Ecuador (2005, Illinois Press) and the Ecology of the Spoken Word: Shamanism and Storytelling among the Napo Runa (2012, Illinois Press). Uzendoski has lived and worked among Amazonian indigenous communities since 1994.

ORCID

Michael A. Uzendoski http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5774-8648

Notes

1 See the special double edition of Cultural Studies ‘Cultural studies of extraction’ Volume 31, 2017 – Issue 2–3.

2 The so-called leftist model of Ecuador is not really a ‘post’ event; Ecuadorian extractivism, like other post-recognition systems of neoliberalism (Hale 2002, 2005, 2006; Shlossberg 2015; Saldívar 2014; Kymlicka 2013) relies on ‘culture’ as a central mechanism of power.

3 CONFENIAE stands for the ‘Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana.’

4 CONAKINO stands for the ‘Consejo de la Nacionalidad Kichwa del Napo.’

5 These chains of power and capital work by collapsing State and capitalistic interests; neoliberalism is unleashed not by the market but by the State. It’s officials, institutions, and programmes are complexly intertwined with transnational companies and markets.

6 Wikipedia Entry on Robert Friedland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Friedland

7 Sumak Kawsay appears five times in the 2008 Constitution. See http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Ecuador/english08.html

8 I realize that both Bolivia and Venezuela have specific dynamics that are different from the Ecuadorian case. However, all three States defined their politics of twenty-first century Socialism in relation to similar ideas and practices, such as extractivism, nationalism, modernization, and social welfare programs.

9 Later, de Sousa Santos began writing a series of critical letters to the ‘leftist governments’ and even one directed towards Ecuador’s President when he decided to oust CONAIE from their Quito headquarters.

10 There is even a wikileaks document that points to the US concern with so many academics working in the government of Correa, who himself was an academic before becoming president. See http://www.eluniverso.com/2011/05/01/1/1355/cables-fuerte-sabor-flacso-gobierno.html.

11 https://youtu.be/r7UsXtu68×0 The video’s title is ‘Ivanhoe Kichwa Propaganda in Ecuador (2010).’

12 FOIN stands for ‘Federación de Organizaciones Indígenas del Napo.’

13 For example, the bulletin of Provincial Government stated that Ivanhoe energy, ‘in compliance with the cooperation agreement of August 22, 2012, imported 6000 gallons of diesel fuel to be used in the Institution’s machines, to help in works that would serve the provincial population’ See https://www.google.com.ec/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwi81piEvMjNAhVEXh4KHUUjAC4QFggdMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.napo.gob.ec%2Fwebsite%2Fimages%2Fpdf%2Fgacetas%2Fgaceta_oficial_no.6.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHxzeZ25c1jmDuuO8T1LFDMbQzUyA&sig2=-OY5lAUCzoP--dAMFFOT4Q&cad=rja.

14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf0vVRUpk7c; The title of the video is ‘Radio Ideal Tena, Napo Ecuador (2010).’

15 The Institute for the Ecodevelopment of the Amazonian Region.