Paper short abstract:

The study assesses Andean mining conflict and monitoring interactions, departing from the analysis of the politics of pollution and risk perception, in order to understand the causes of struggles from the perspectives and valuation of the contentious groups involved in nature engagement.

Paper long abstract:

The recent expansion of the Andean mining frontier has increased clashes between central governments and companies against marginalized populations. There is limited empirical ethnological models explaining the interactions of groups involved in sub-national conflicts, especially based on residents and their perceptions of nature, when protesting against mining pollution. Politics about animated entities related to mining resources, pollution monitoring and perception of environmental risks have become key issues for understanding conflictive encounters. The research based on long-term multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork comparing transnational Andean mining cases covers findings on explanations of struggles surrounding natural resources as well as cultural relations with nature. The ethnological analysis frames interpretative ethnological models of interactions among conflictive groups while building a critique to cost-benefit analysis of externalities, undermining local perceptions, as well as the cultural relationship between residents with animals, plants, and other non-human entities.