"Paritekia": The Conflict for the Heart of the Universe
Author: Lamberti, María Julieta , julietalamberti@gmail.com
Department: Centro de Estudios Sociológicos
University: El Colegio de México, Mexico
Supervisor: Dr. José Luis Lezama
Year of completion: 2014
Language of dissertation: Spanish
Keywords:
mining
, indigenous people
, non-human actants
, Wirikuta
Areas of Research:
Environment and Society
, Local-Global Relations
, Community Research
Abstract
Real Bonanza Mining Company, the subsidiary of First Majestic Silver Corporation and Revolution Resources Company have obtained concessions to extract ores in the Natural Protected Area Wirikuta. This is one of the most important holy sites of the Wixárika (Huichol) Peoples. When the opportunity to start mining in Wirikuta was made public, they began to perform different actions to oppose mining in their sacred sites. This research is an ethnographic case study of the conflict in Wirikuta. The central argument of the research is that conflict over mining in Wirikuta is a conflict for materialization of a territorial project. In order to achieve that goal, hybrid collectives deploy multiple strategies of territorialization. I complement anthropology of mining with actor-network theory (ANT) to incorporate other actants, besides humans in our interpretation of the conflict. This allows for a less anthropocentric and less modern-centric relational sociology.
