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Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses development workshops organized between Lundin Gold and local actors in Los Encuentros, Ecuador. Though detailed ethnographic description, I discuss how power structures and governance are reflected, constructed and challenged within and in relation to these events.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on public events and workshops organised between Lundin Gold, its delegate Insuco and local actors in the proximity of the gold mining project Fruta del Norte, Ecuador. The objective of the workshops is to “generate a collective vision of the area’s development” (GADPR Los Encuentros 2022). However, by paying attention to how power structures are shaped within and in relation to these events, I describe the power the company has over local development, and the ways in which it is challenged.

During the workshops, local actors make claims for unkept promises and pleas for further support towards Lundin Gold. The events position the multi-national mining company as a patron, towards which aspirations of development, prosperity and hope are directed. Lundin Gold, in turn, has the power to decide whether or not they support presented development projects. The company is thus able to adjust the development interests of local actors according to company interests, rather than vice versa (Dolan & Rajak 2016).

In addition to determining types of development projects supported – a process which the company presents as apolitical (Ferguson 1994) – the events serve as a space for the company to “read” the public, “render it technical” (Li 2007), and identify potential sites of conflict. However, discontent has grown towards the events: locals are disillusioned with the results, and participation rates have dropped. Some of those who still attend use the space to make emotive speeches outside the scheduled agenda, attempting to politicize the “apolitical” events.