Paper short abstract:

This presentation will showcase the work of the AnthropoSouth research project, which aims to investigates the history of oil extraction in a pan-Latin American context and, through that, rethink the history of the Anthropocene from a non-western perspective.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation will showcase the different approaches of the AnthropoSouth research project, which aims to investigate the history of oil extraction in a pan-Latin American context. Focusing on this fossil fuel we aim to trace the history of Latin America within the modern world and, through that, to rethink the history of the Anthropocene from a non-western perspective. By highlighting the mechanisms that led post-colonial nations to adopt fossil-fueled economic models, the project aims to show how Latin American countries used petroleum as a lever to strengthen their political sovereignty as well as their position in the global economy.

The presentation will highlight several key insights from the individual projects that comprise the AnthropoSouth team, using different scales of analysis to compare and connect the history of different national projects of petroleum development. One part will deal with the history of Latin American oil towns as a contested environment where labor and social movements as well as oil companies articulated and fought over different visions of modernity and energy justice. Another part will focus on the role of energy infrastructure in Latin America's industrialization program, and the relationship between uneven economic growth and the reproduction of social and environmental problems. A third and final part will reflect on the expansion of oil extraction frontiers in the Amazonian territory, considering how a specific biome could shape, but also constrain national economic development projects.