Mining Extraction in Latin America

The extraction of minerals from the subsoil has a long and troubled history in Latin America. Particularly since the colonization of Abya Yala, mining activity has shaped the political, economic, environmental, social, and cultural dimensions of life in many of its biomes. Given this prominence, it is rather surprising that mining only emerged as a topic of broad inquiry by Latin American(ist) scholars by the end of the 2000s. This recent upsurge in the social science literature on mining has everything to do with the latest boom of Latin America’s extractive sectors due to high commodity prices and a growing demand for resources, particularly by China. The ensuing expansion of the exploration and exploitation of the subsoil spurred profound socio-environmental transformations, conflicts, and social mobilizations all the way from Mexico to Argentina. The extractive boom, moreover, brought back to life national and regional debates on Latin America’s long-standing dependency on export commodities, as well as on the possibility of post-extractive development. Large-scale mineral mining, arguably among the most socially and environmentally disruptive of all extractive sectors, has been at the center of this emerging literature. It has attracted the attention of scholars from across the social science disciplines, but particularly from anthropology, political science, and human geography. With theoretical foundations in political ecology, social movement theory, feminist studies, neo-Marxism, and environmental governance, they have set out to unravel the strategies of corporations and governments to promote mining, the social and environmental consequences for those regions where mining touches ground, and the widespread resistance against mining by grassroots groups and environmental movements. Their inquiries brought about a rich and colorful scholarship that not only apprehends the issue of mining, but also makes meaningful contributions to broader debates in Latin American studies on—for example—social inequality, citizenship, development, environmental governance, resistance, gender, and environmental justice. This article presents a selection from the social science debate on contemporary mining in Latin America, with a strong emphasis on large-scale mining. It is organized around several key strands of the literature, ranging from the international political economy of mining and the concept of extractivism, to the micropolitics of gender and indigeneity that characterize the industry. It concludes by addressing a subfield that seems to be somewhat at odds with the topic of mining, but is highly related: the flourishing explorations of post-extractivist futures in Latin America.