Transactional colonialism in wind energy investments: Energy injustices against vulnerable people in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec

Jacobo Ramirez,Steffen Böhm

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2021.102135

Abstract

Energy production is a source of disputes across the world. Governments and firms argue that investing in wind energy contributes to the sustainable development of energy systems. However, wind farms perpetuate ongoing injustices and instigate new injustices. Vulnerable groups such as excluded and marginalised indigenous people can trace the injustices in low-carbon investments to a historical continuity of oppression and repression by internal and external elite groups. Based on a qualitative longitudinal study in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico, we expand our understanding of the energy justice framework in two ways. First, we show that cognitive justice is a vital dimension for understanding different ways of life, traditions and customs. Second, we propose the new concept of ‘transactional colonialism’, which emphasises the role of economic transactions between firms and economically motivated members of indigenous communities with the support of elite actors. This article provides new insights into the conflicting dynamics of wind energy investments in the Global South.

Highlights

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico, has some of the most powerful wind resources in the world [1]
Since the first mini-wind farm was established in the Isthmus in 1994, 1600 wind turbines have been installed across 32 sites in this region, with a total capacity of 4199 MW – approximately 62% of the total wind energy produced in Mexico [8,9]
In accordance with Charmaz’s [65] claims that ‘critical inquiry begins with conceptions of justice and injustice’, we focus on vulnerable people affected by wind energy investments in the Isthmus by proposing sociocognitive justice as a novel intellectual insight to draw attention to under-recognised aspects of indigenous people’s knowledges within a political agenda of neoliberal green energy investments

Summary

Introduction

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico (termed ‘the Isthmus’ hereafter), has some of the most powerful wind resources in the world [1]. While some have benefitted from wind en ergy investments – such as multinational enterprises (MNEs) and gov ernments – others, including some indigenous people residing in the Isthmus, feel that their way of life has been compromised [10]. These ‘vulnerable’ groups are heterogeneous, with a long history of internal colonisation, inter-ethnic conflict over land, and elite inter-marriage designed to gain control over territory [11,12,13]. There have been conflicts within elite groups, with the Mexican federal government deprioritising low-carbon investments since 2018 [3,4]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion