Short abstract:

Engaging with Agential Realism, Andean cosmovision, and gender dynamics through Decolonial Inquiry. This research delves into The Unconscious or the Intersectional unspoken, exploring the intricate relationship between stakeholders, nature and technoscience through narratives on green energy.

Long abstract:

In the Andean mountains, lithium is extracted at an accelerated pace driven by speculative demand for electric vehicles and lithium batteries. The surge is propelled by sociotechnical imaginaries, envisioning improved futures embedded in discourses on green energy. Meanwhile, mining is depleting natural water reserves, harming wildlife and local indigenous communities. This work experiments with Barad’s agential realism approach and asks: How might a decolonial approach contribute here? Put simply, Latin American decolonial and feminist critiques of Western knowledge and particularly Quijano's concept of the "coloniality of knowledge," argue that Eurocentric knowledge production significantly contributes to global inequalities by marginalizing alternative perspectives. Considering this, I raise the question: How and in what ways do ontologies, epistemologies, and ethics 'translate' into Andean indigenous cosmovision in this context? And in what forms does Barad's approach coexist with Andean cosmovision? These conceptual reflections are explored through interview-based narratives from local communities and policymakers in the Chilean and German energy industries. My interest lies in unwrapping intricate relationships individuals have with 'energy' and 'technology.' Influenced by Feminist and Postcolonial psychoanalysis, using the lens of power dynamics and gender, I seek to interpret the unconscious within the narrative. The Unconscious here shouldn’t be understood as what the individual is not conscious of, but the effort is focused on creating space for aspects that haven't found explicit verbal expression. In this sense, the approach might be thought of as intersectional meaning-making in practice. Focused on the implicit/explicit relationships stakeholders express having with "nature", "technoscience" and "green energy”.