Abstract
Abstract This paper examines coordinated community responses to the deployment of controversial technologies by broccoli plantations in Cotopaxi province in Ecuador's central highlands. It studies the influence of enduring structures of inequality that delimit the distribution of land and water in the region – the effects of what Ann Stoler calls imperial debris within ongoing processes of ruination. It considers the socioecological struggles mobilized to address these processes in terms of resource sovereignties – shifting assemblages of rights and relations between land, identity, ecology and social justice. The technologies in question – acetylene 'cannons' designed to disperse clouds and thus prevent damage to crops from hailstones – were locally disruptive to weather patterns, agriculture, and everyday life. In collaboration with the regional offices of Ecuador's national Indigenous Movement, affected communities from across the region campaigned – in the streets and in the courts, and ultimately with some success – to outlaw these technologies of appropriation. Although the initial case was settled in 2010, new suspicions emerged in early 2016 as some community members again blamed the plantations for an unseasonable drought, alleging they had found new technologies to use in the destruction of clouds. Reading the cannons as forms of rubble (Gordillo 2014) focuses our attention on how and why these abandoned technologies re-emerged as a source of conflict in the region and exerted unexpected influence on responses to drought conditions. I suggest these claims, counterclaims and subsequent struggles not only reveal the persistence of processes of ruination and of resistance to them but also expose the fragility within apparently immutable political systems and destructive landscapes. Key words: environment, Ecuador, technology, ruination, rubble, water
Highlights
In May 2011, Ecuador's most active volcano began erupting again
I was with Don Jorge when we heard what sounded like the sound of a distant plane, only it seemed to be emanating from the ground
The conclusion reflects on the disruptive presence/absence of different kinds of ruins and rubble, and on how examining efforts to resist ruination and restore resource sovereignties expands our understanding of diverse socioecological struggles
Summary
In May 2011, Ecuador's most active volcano began erupting again. Tungurahua is located 30-40 miles south of the indigenous community of San Isidro (where this fieldwork was based), and so posed no immediate threat to residents there – but it was clearly visible on the horizon and its rumblings could be heard, and felt, underfoot. The social and ecological geographies of highland Ecuador are acutely marked by histories of resource inequalities, discriminatory agrarian policies, environmental degradation and precarious livelihoods (Bebbington et al 2013; Bretón 2015; Partridge 2016a; Peña 2015) Experiences from these socioecological struggles in Cotopaxi simultaneously reflect and disrupt significant political shifts at regional and national scales, including Constitutional reform ratified in 2008. Developing these themes, what follows is divided into: (1) an account of the original campaign against the plantations and its context; (2) a critical engagement with concepts of ruination and resource sovereignties as they apply to events in Cotopaxi; (3) details of the re-emergence of tensions between plantations and nearby communities. The conclusion reflects on the disruptive presence/absence of different kinds of ruins and rubble, and on how examining efforts to resist ruination and restore resource sovereignties expands our understanding of diverse socioecological struggles
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