https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6796-7465
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Abstract
As a new wave of infrastructure expansion takes place globally, there has been a parallel turn to infrastructure in geographical research. This article responds to recent calls within this research for less human-centered engagement with the infrastructure turn. More specifically, this article aims to destablize anthropocentric discussions about infrastructural violence and infrastructural justice. Using the Chad–Cameroon Pipeline Project as a case study, we advance two main points. First, we show that infrastructural violence is not solely directed at humans. Rather, all agents, objects, and conditions—from humans to fish to carbon sequestration—entangled in webs of relations within zones of infrastructural expansion risk being subjected to violence when new and existing infrastructures meet. To illustrate this point, we detail two examples of competitions between new and existing infrastructures along the Chad–Cameroon Pipeline route, which together reveal the various forms of violence experienced by the more-than-human world when new infrastructural arrangements are layered on top of already existing ones. Second, we advance debates on infrastructural justice by adopting a more-than-human perspective in our conceptualization of this term. Recent writing on infrastructural justice has reflected on efforts to repair and rebuild infrastructures to produce more just futures (Sheller Citation2018). Drawing on the observations and reflections of our fieldwork along the Chad–Cameroon Pipeline route, we argue that just infrastructure projects must not only be inclusive of marginalized human and nonhuman populations but they must also avoid interfering with the infrastructural work done by nature to sustain the more-than-human world.
随着新一波全球基础设施的扩张，地理学研究也开始转向基础设施。本文的关注点是减少人类对基础设施的参与。具体地，本文旨在动摇对基础设施冲突和基础设施正义的以人为本的讨论。以乍得-喀麦隆石油管道工程为例，我们发展了两个观点。第一，基础设施冲突不仅针对人类。在基础设施扩张区域里，所有的人、物和条件（从人类到鱼类到碳汇）都相互关联，在新旧基础设施碰撞时都有卷入冲突的危险。为了解释这一观点，我们详述了乍得-喀麦隆石油管道沿线的新旧基础设施竞争的两个例子，揭示了新基础设施叠加到现有设施的时候，超人类世界所经历的各种冲突。第二，采用超人类世界的观点来理解基础设施正义，我们推动了基础设施正义的争论。基础设施正义的最新文献表明，我们已经开始着手修复、重建基础设施，以期创造更加正义的未来。根据对乍得-喀麦隆石油管道沿线的实地考察和思考，我们认为公平的基础设施工程不仅包括被边缘化的人和非人类种群，还应避免干扰大自然的基础设施工作，从而保证超人类世界的可持续性。
Al tiempo que se presenta una nueva ola de expansión infraestructural a escala global, ocurre un giro paralelo hacia la infraestructura en la investigación geográfica. Este artículo responde a recientes llamados dentro de este tipo de investigación, con el giro infraestructural, por un compromiso menos centrado en lo humano. Más específicamente, este artículo se orienta a desestabilizar las discusiones antropocéntricas acerca de la violencia infraestructural y la justicia infraestructural. Usando el Proyecto del Oleoducto Chad–Camerún como un estudio de caso, promovemos dos puntos principales. Primero, mostramos que la violencia infraestructural no se dirige solamente a los humanos. Más que eso, todos los agentes, objetos y condiciones––desde humanos a peces, a secuestro del carbono–– enredados en redes de relaciones dentro de zonas de expansión infraestructural arriesgan ser sujetos de violencia cuando se encuentran las infraestructuras nuevas con las ya existentes. Para ilustrar este punto, detallamos dos ejemplos de competencia entre infraestructuras nuevas y existentes a lo largo de la ruta del Oleoducto Chad–Camerún, que en conjunto revelan las diferentes formas de violencia experimentadas por el mundo más que humano cuando nuevas disposiciones infraestructurales son colocadas como una nueva capa encima de las ya existentes. Segundo, promovemos debates sobre justicia infraestructural adoptando una perspectiva más que humana en nuestra conceptualización de este término. Los escritos recientes sobre justicia infraestructural han reflexionado acerca de los esfuerzos para reparar y reconstruir infraestructuras para generar futuros más justos (Sheller 2018). Con base en las observaciones y reflexiones de nuestro trabajo de campo a lo largo de la ruta del Oleoducto Chad–Camerún, sostenemos que los proyectos de infraestructura justa deben no solo ser incluyentes para las poblaciones marginadas humanas y no humanas, sino que también deben evitar la interferrencia con el trabajo infraestructural hecho por la naturaleza para sostener el mundo más que humano.
Acknowledgments
The research informing this article was carried out as part of a larger SSHRC-funded project on commodity politics in Cameroon that involved Dr. Steffi Hamann (University of Guelph) and Brendan Schwartz (International Institute for Environment and Development). Both played invaluable roles in facilitating and supporting this research, as did those that participated in the research in Yaoundé, Kribi and along the pipeline route. Generous feedback from members of the Political Ecology Reading Group at the University of Sheffield, as well our reviewers, was also much appreciated.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Charis Enns
CHARIS ENNS is a Presidential Fellow in Socio-Environmental Systems at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include the impacts of large-scale investments in land and natural resources on rural landscapes and livelihoods, with a focus on mega-infrastructure investments.
Adam Sneyd
ADAM SNEYD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include the politics of commodities, the politics of development, and the politics of science in the African context.