Extractivism and Indigenous Communities in Milei’s Argentina

The expansion of neo-extractivism in Latin America led by multinational corporations has relied on and been accompanied by substantial political reforms that negatively affect environmental, Indigenous and human rights. In the Argentine province of Río Negro in northern Patagonia, these projects involve open-pit mining, green hydrogen, fracking, wind farms, and hydroelectric dams. The government of Río Negro did not consult with Indigenous communities before granting mining exploration permits in their territories. Meanwhile, soy production, in northern Argentina, has equally advanced over peasant and Indigenous lands with no consultation or compensation. In both locations, Indigenous communities have demanded, through administrative and legal channels, that their constitutional right to consultation and consent be respected. Similar stories play out all over the Americas. In this round table we analyze how Indigenous territories in Argentina are stressed by a model of resource extraction that reformulates how people and the state use and perceive space. We examine how these (re)territorializing processes modify, guide and make tense the lives of Indigenous groups that live in these regions. This new wave of advance over territories is paired with the emergence of extreme right-wing governments, which view Indigenous struggle as one of the core challenges to territorial dispossession exacerbated in the right-wing present.

NB: Some of this event will be in Spanish (text in English will be circulated for non-Spanish speakers).

Lorena Cañuqueo, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; Ana Vivaldi, Latin American Studies; and Gastón Gordillo, Anthropology; moderated by Juanita Sundberg, Geography
Coach House, Green College, UBC and livestreamed