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Accepted Paper:
Oil and the Politics of Dilemma: Frontier Imaginaries of Fast Money and Slow Alternatives
Julia Schwab
(University of Giessen)
Despite well-known impacts, oil futures remain influential in Indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This paper uses affect theory to explore the dilemma of fast money and slow alternatives, arguing that the shift to welcoming oil reflects a quest for self-determination.
Paper Abstract:
The oil frontier in Arajuno, a small town in the Ecuadorian Amazon, continues to expand even 20 years after Susanna Sawyer’s seminal work on Indigenous organizations fighting against oil companies for self-determination and land rights. Despite the well-known consequences of oil extraction, informed by the experiences of northern Amazon communities and the devastating impacts of companies like Texaco-Chevron that made international headlines and marked oil as a development failure, oil futures remain powerful imaginaries in frontier communities. Through affect theory, this paper aims to explore what I call the politics of dilemma. This dilemma encompasses what my research participants describe as the “advantages and disadvantages” of oil extraction, the (in)capacity to realize aspirations for alternative futures, and the ways in which people navigate this complex situation. Contrary to narratives found in so-called resistance studies, I argue that the shift in strategy in Arajuno—from opposing to welcoming oil companies—reflects a quest for Indigenous self-determination as well. By examining the reconciliation of Indigenous self-determination with oil extraction, I analyze the affective intensities of fast money versus slow alternatives.