oil and sustainable development in the latin american humid tropics

7/29/2019 Oil and Sustainable Development in the Latin American Humid Tropics

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Oil and Sustainable Development in the Latin American Humid Tropics

Author(s): Laura RivalReviewed work(s):Source: Anthropology Today, Vol. 13, No. 6 (Dec., 1997), pp. 1-3Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2783374 .

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nthro oogyVol. 13 No. 6 December 997Every womonths o d a y

ContentsOil and sustainabledevelopment n the Latin Americanhumidtropics (LAURA RIVAL) page 1C. W. WATSON'Borna Lady,became a Princess,died a Saint': the reaction to thedeathof Diana,Princess of Wales 3

SPERANTA ADULESCUTraditionalmusics andethnomusicologyunderpolitical pressure:the Romaniancase 8KEVINDWYERBeyond a boundary? universalhumanrights'and the Middle East13NARRATIVE 18 DAVID COLLINS and JAMES URRY on Marya A. CzaplickaCONFERENCES 21 ARND SCHNEIDER on fieldworkOBITUARY 21 Kenneth Kirkwood, Philip Ravenhill, Diana Forsythe, CynthiaPikeLETTERS 22 DAVID ZEITLYN on fieldnotesNEWS 23CALENDAR 24RAI NEWS 27- Giftrelationshipsbetween ethnographersand their hosts 27CAPTION TO FRONT COVER 28CLASSIFIED 29

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY incorporatingRAIN (issn 0307-6776) is publishedbimonthly by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 50 FitzroyStreet, London WIP 5HS, UK. ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY is mailed free of charge toits Fellows and Members. All orders accompanied with payment should be sent directly toThe Distribution Centre, Blackhorse Road, Letchworth, Herts SG6 1HN, U.K. 1997annual subscription rates for the UK and overseas are ?16 or US$25 (individuals, includesmembership of the Institute),?31 or US$49 (libraries). Single copy ?6 for the UK, and$10 for overseas. Airfreight and mailing in the U.S.A. by Publications Expediting Inc,200 Meacham Avenue, Elmont, New York 11003, U.S.A.Editor: Jonathan Benthall (Director, RAI) Assistant Editor: Sean KingstonCorresponding Editors (proposed by American Anthropological Association):Karl Heider, Michael Herzfeld, KatherineVerderyEditorial Panel: Robert Foley, Alma Gottlieb, Richard Handler, Solomon H. Katz, JohnKnight, Jeremy MacClancy, Danny Miller, Howard Morphy, Monique BorgerhoffMulder, Stephen 0. Murray, Judith Okely, Jarich Oosten, Nigel Rapport, NancyScheper-Hughes, Masakazu Tanaka, ChristinaToren, Patty Jo Watson.RAI Offices: 50 Fitzroy Street, London WIP 5HS (tel: +44 (0)171-387 0455, fax +44(0)171-383 4235, Email [email protected]) for all correspondence exceptsubscriptions, changes of address etc. for which the address is: Distribution Centre,Blackhorse Road, Letchworth SG6 1HN, U.K. (tel: +44 (0)1462 672555, telex 825372TURPIN G, fax +44 (0)1462-480947). WWW Homepage: http:Hlucy.ukc.ac.uk/raiReg charityno 246269.Signed articles represent he v iews of their writersonly All submissions other than shortreportsand letters arepeer-reviewed ?CRAI 1997.Copy date: 1st of odd months A sheet of notes forcontnlbutorsS available on request Submissions areconsidered on the understanding hat we are offered an exclusive option to publish When possible we like toreceive copy on IBM compatible3 1/2" loppy disks (though we can read most) or via email (In ASCII orWordperfect 1 encoded In Mime format) via rai@cix compulinkcouk Letters o the Editorare welcomed.Advertising Rates: Full page ?293 Half page ?158 Third page col. ?108 Half col ?54 Quarter ol ?31Linage for classified ?3. UK customersadd VAT 10%discount for c/r copy Copy date for advertising 15th ofodd-numberedmonths. Pnlnted t. ChameleonPress.U.S.A. Postmaster: Send addresschanges to ANTHROPOLOGYTODAY, PublicationsExpeditingInc,200Meacham Avenue, Elmont, New York 110 03, U S A Application o mail at periodicalspostage ISpaid atJamaica,New York 11431 All other despatchesoutside the U K by Airspeed Delivery within EuropeandAccelerated Surface Post outside Europe Printed n the U K

Oil and sustainabledevelopment n the LatinAmerican humid tropicsIndigenous peoples, already ncreasingly exposed to theunfamiliar logic of transnationalextractive industries(Burger 1987), are now faced with a new challenge:they are expected to become 'stakeholders' asked bythe 'private sector' to take part n sustainableeconomicdevelopment. Five yearsafter the landmarkEarthSum-mit in Rio, governments,internationalaid donors andinternationalbusiness are unanimous:sustainabilityde-pends on the integrationof the social and environmen-tal with the economic. Public-privatecoalitionsshouldbe formed 'to ensure that resource consumption todaydoes not reduce thequalityof life of futuregenerations;to halt and reverse environmentaldegradationand thewaste of resources;and to strengthen stewardshipofnaturalresources by increasingthe participationof in-digenous peoples, local communities, NGOs, and theprivate sector'.I Consensus, as opposed to adversarialrelations, is the aim of most transnationalcompaniescurrentlydevelopingoilfields in Latin American humidtropics,where most new oil operationswill take placein the next decade (Rosenfeldet al., 1997).The tropical forests of Central and South Americacontain a large proportionof the world's biologicaldiversity and are home to numerous indigenouspeoples. Oilfields are already, and increasingly, beingdeveloped in naturalparks, biological reserves and in-digenous territories. f the haltingand reversal of envi-ronmentaldegradationand the waste of non-renewableresources were truly given top priority, hen these tropi-cal forests would not be targetedas the next place toextract oil. However, Latin America, being close toNorth America, is playing a key role in the interna-tional oil market, quite apartfrom the increase in itsown domesticneeds, andis championingeconomic lib-eralization.Ecuador's Amazon region, locally known as theOriente,is a case in point. Though the Oriente repre-sents no more than 2% of the Amazon basin, it makesup just one half of the country.For the last 25 years,over 90%of Ecuador's oil has been produced here.Oilrevenuesrepresent18% of the Gross Domestic Product,67% of the export earnings and 57% of the nationalbudget. The largest part of the oil revenues goes to-wardsrepayingthe US$12.8 billion foreigndebt and toimport uel (Jimenez Grivalja 1994). The country, acedwith the alarmingdepletionof its oil reserves andwithfalling worldmarketprices,has decidedto specializeinheavy crudes and increase its oil exports by invitingtransnationalompaniesto develop new oilfields. Mostof the Oriente is now divided up into exploratoryoroperationalblocks. The terms of service contractsforforeigninvestors have been eased, andsix transnationalcompanies2are now extracting oil from 23 fields, ac-counting for about half of the total nationaloutput.Environmentalgroups and indigenous organizationshave been fiercely opposed to some of these oil devel-opments, in particular o those on Huaorani and and inthe Yasuni National Park. The latter was created in1979 and declared a biosphere reserve by Unesco in1987, as well as a world centre for plantdiversity underthe Joint IUCN-WWF Plants ConservationProgrammeand the IUCN Threatened Plants Unit. Protests cli-maxed in 1990, when the North American companyCONOCO decided to develop its concession which was


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right inside the Yasuni National Park. The confronta-tion stepped up when the governmentdecided to alterthe park's borders and change the legislation whichprohibitedoil developmentwithin protectedareas(Real1997). CONOCOhas since sold its rights to Maxus,another North American company, which has beenboughtrecently by the Argentine companyYPF. I haveexaminedelsewhere the impactof these companies onthe Huaoranipeople (Rival 1991, 1998), and endorsedthe Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund's petition to theInter-American Commission on Human Rights inWashington,DC, demandinga ten-yearmoratoriumonall extractiveactivityin traditionalHuaoraniand(Rival1993).Environmentalistand indigenist efforts have notstopped oil developments in these protectedareas, sothe style of advocacyhas changed.OPIP(Organizationof the Indigenous Peoples of Pastaza), arguably themost militantand best organizedindigenousfederationin Ecuador,has even decided, afteryears of protractedopposition and confrontation,to take the risk of co-managingmonitoringactivities with ARCO, the NorthAmerican company operatingon the land of some ofthe Quichuacommunities t represents Villamil 1995).OPIPleadersare alreadyfinding it difficult to maintaincontinued pressureover long periods, and to take partin highly technical activities without enough training.They are concernedaboutthe knowledgegaps - in pe-troleum technology, pollution control, environmentaland contractual aw, and so forth- they need to fill inorder to become equal and effective partners. TheARCO-OPIP agreementhas become a model in Ecua-dor and elsewhere. Shell has adopteda similarstrategyof collaborationandcommunitydevelopment n the Ca-misea region in Peru,whereit will soon startextractinggas and oil.The success of the private sector's model of equalpartnershipwill depend on the sharingof control,andon how much trainingindigenous peoples receive toenable them to monitor andcontrolexploitationof theirnaturalresources. They and their organizationsmuststart demandingthat all researchreportsso far writtenon them and theirland be made availableto them; thatthey have the rightto takepartin the preparation f allnew reports;and that companies set up funds, to bemanaged by the communities autonomously, tostrengthen heirnegotiatingcapacity.Those NGOs thatrepresentcivil society at large must ensure that com-pensationsand social benefits are not confined to thefew communitieswhich happento be near the sites ofeconomic activity, but are distributed widely. Theymust also make sure that the social and environmentalcommitments of private companies are not subject to'boomandbust' cycles.The guidelinesfor good social practicethat oil com-paniesareadvisedto follow (Rosenfeld et al. 1997: 56-57) recommend the hiring of anthropologists amiliarwith the regions and local communities concerned.These are asked to identify social impacts, determinewho are the 'stakeholders',manage consultationswithlocal people, encourage participationthrough formalconsultationmechanisms,train ocal professionals,helpmitigate the impacts arisingfrom the presence of out-side workers, and, in some cases, plan and coordinatecontacts.So far, so good: after all, until not even twodecadesago, private companiesworking in landsoccu-pied by indigenouspeoples sent in the military.No onecan reasonablyobject to the goal of forging new con-sensus relationshipsand partnerships mong competinginterestsso that they can act jointly; nor to the employ-

ment of anthropologistswith detailed local knowledgeif sharing this knowledge can help protect indigenousrights,health and autonomy.Unfortunately, n my ex-perience andthat of a numberof colleagues, this rarelyoccurs.To carryout the 'social impactassessment'which isincreasinglyrequestedby financial institutionsapprov-ing loans, a transnational il companyuses a myriadofconsultancy irms which, in turn,use both in-house 'so-cial experts'4and consultantson shortcontracts.Thereis little if any communicationbetween the differentconsultants.All theirreportsare consideredthe privatepropertyof the commissioning company. Consultancyfirms ask theirresearchers o sign a secrecy declarationandto keep confidentialall informationacquiredduringthe research.Most consultancy-based esearch s under-taken by national anthropologists,EuroAmericanaca-demics andconsultantsbeing contractedonly for highlysensitivecases. The professionalcredentialsof nationalanthropologistsvary greatly. Some are still studentswith only one or two yearsof university raining;othershave received Mastersand PhD degrees from univer-sities of internationalstanding.Many are poorly paidlecturersworking n LatinAmericanuniversities.5MostEcuadorianand PeruviananthropologistsI know haveworked as consultants.For many, consultancy is theonly avenueavailableto carryout and/or fund field re-search.The anthropologists have spokento, whetherLatinAmericanor Euro-American, eel they are being askednot so much to help forge a genuine participatorypro-cess, but to indicateto the companywho are the poten-tial allies and the potential trouble-makers.Whereastheirgoal is to enable local communities, they end uphelping the company.Time constraints, ack of scien-tific rigour,and rigid discursiveframes translated ntoactivities such as filling in 'stakeholder matrices', orchartingandrankingcommunities accordingto a set ofpredeterminedcriteria,recall the discursive practicesanalysedby Ferguson(1990) and Escobar (1995). Theanthropologistworks for the 'project manager' underthe 'projectdirector',who has ultimate accountability.The part of the reportwritten by the anthropologist salmostalwaysrewritten o fit the overall style. The con-sultancyfirm's main aim seems to be to please its clientcompany. If the anthropologistcould write her or hissocial impact assessment directly for the company,thereportmight be more critical and, at least, it would bemore analyticalwith fewer satellite images and fewerflow-charts.6The new management egimeof the oil transnationalsand the consultancyfirms working for them deservesanthropologicalstudy. The concept of 'sustainablede-velopment' is being used to justify forms of develop-ment which are in no way sustainable,such as Ecua-dor's oil policy of unbridledextractivism.The naturali-zation of this drive - 'there is nothing we can do tostop oil development in the Amazon' - can then beused to advantagesome companiesin the biddingcom-petition. Some companies parade their moral commit-ments, and as AndrewGray (1993: 17) remarks, Whatseems to happen is that market forces are taking overhumanrights which become economic markersdistin-guishing good from bad companies'. Under this newmoral economy, the social developmentof local com-munities becomes the private responsibility of the'profit-makingsector'. There is a possible historicalanalogy with the company towns set up two centuriesago, before the consolidationof nation-states.

LauraRival'sdoctoralresearchat LSE wasamong the HuaoraniIndiansof AmazonianEcuador,withwhom shehas continued o carryoutfieldwork.She isnow a lecturer n socialanthropology t theUniversity f Kent atCanterbury.Hermostrecentpublicationsincludepapers in TheCulturalProduction ftheEducatedPerson(ed.B. Levinson t al.,SUNY,1993) and NatureandSociety:AnthropologicalPerspectives ed. G.Palsson et al., Routledge1996).

Brosius,P. 1996.'Analysesand nterventionsanthropologicalngagementswith environmentalism',Paperpresentedat the 95thAAA meeting,SanFrancisco.Brosius,P., C. Zerner&A.L. Tsing 1997.'RepresentingommunitiesHistonesandpolitics ofcommunity-basedesourcemanagement',Documentpreparedor the conferenceof thesamename held 1-3June 1997, in Helen,Georgia,USA.Burger,J. 1987. Reportfrom the Frontier.The Stateof the World's ndigenousPeoples. London:Zed P.Escobar,A 1995.EncounteringDevelopment.TheMakingand Unmakingof the ThirdWorld.Princeton,N.J.: PrincetonUP.Ferguson,J. 1990. TheAnti-PoliticsMachine-'Development',Depoliticization,andBureaucraticPower inLesotho.CambridgeUP.Gray,A. 1993. 'Therainforest arvest',Anthropologyn Action(BASAPP),16:16-18.Harris-Jones, . 1996.'Afterword' n TheFutureofAnthropologicalKnowledge,(ed) H. Moore,London:Routledge.JifninezGrijalva,A. (ed.)1994. Datos Bdsicos de laRealidadNacional. Quito:Corporaci6nEditoraNacionalMoore,H. 1996. 'Thechangingnatureofanthropological nowledge:an introduction' n TheFuture of AnthropologicalKnowledge ed.) H Moore,London:Routledge.Real, B. 1997. 'Defensadel ParqueNacional Yasunifrentea la ActividadPetrolera' n DesarrolloEco-il6gico. Vol. III (eds)A. Vareaet al. Quito:CEDEP& Abya-Yala.Rival, L. 1991. 'Huaoraniy Petreleo' in Naufragos delMar Verde La Resistenciade los Huaorani a unaIntegraci6n mpuesta. ed.)G. Tassi. Quito Abya-Yala.2 ANTHROPOLOGYTODAY Vol 13 No 6, December 1997


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We need to study ethnographicallyhow, when com-munities encounter the oil transnationals,hey come tothink in a new way and to take decisions about theirfutures;and how they come to abandon heir self-reliantmarginality as they envisage their sustainable integra-tion in wider spheres. One example is the autarkicMatsinguenguagroups, who have recently decided torelocate near Shell's Camisea operations and benefitfrom the company's social development schemes(France-Marie Renard Catsevitz, pers. comm.). Weneed to understandhow, in the courseof unequal nego-tiations, emergingformsof politicalagency arebuilt upthrough the strategic use of particularrhetorical styles(Brosius 1996, Brosius et al. 1997). Under what condi-tions can the abstract notion of 'equal partnership'become a reality (Harris-Jones1996: 164)?Finally we also need ethnographiesof consultancyfirms. What kind of knowledge do they produce andwhat are the consequences?Whose interests do theyserve, and what is their ethical code? On what basis dothey classify and rankthe interests at stake?What arethe power structureswithin the firms? What dilemmasdo theirresearchersace? Do they seek convergenceofinterests,and if so by what method? What is their rolein the appropriationby powerful transnational auth-orities, national governmentsor local elites, of com-munity-resourcemanagementprojects and policies de-signedto advance ocal interests.Oil companies moving in the remote forest com-munities of Central and South America are creating

new regimes of governmentality,or which they use so-cial scientists and anthropological knowledge. AsMoore (1996: 13) has observed, anthropologistsare in-volved in this process not only as consultants,develop-ment workers or providersof ethnographic nformationon which plans and policies depend, but also asteachers and as academicsengaged in dialogue on suchissues as the futureof rainforestsand rainforestpeoples.Let's continue this dialogue but not leave out the com-parative study of transnational ompanies and manage-rialregimes. O

Laura Rival

-1993. 'ConfrontingPetroleumDevelopmentnthe Ecuadorian mazon: heHuaorani,HumanRightsand EnvironmentalProtection.',Anthropologyin Action (BASAPP)16:14-15.-1998. 'Marginalitywitha Difference How theHuaoraniRemainAutonomous, reserve heirSharingRelationsandNaturalizeOutsideEconomicPowers'inHuntersandGatherers nthe ModernContext:Conflict,ResistanceandSelf-Determination.eds) M.Biesele&P Schweitzer.BerghanBooks ofProvidence,R.I.Rosenfield,A. et al. 1997.Reinventinghe Well.Approacheso Minimizingthe Environmental ndSocialImpactof OilDevelopmentn the TropicsWashingtonD.C:Conservation International.Villamil,H. 1995 'Elmanejodel conflicto con laspetroleras:El caso de laARCO-OPIP.',n MareaNegra en la Amazonifa.ConflictosSocioambientalesVinculadosa la ActividadPetroleraen el Ecuador.AnamariaVarea et al. (eds).Quito: AbyaYala, ILDIS,FTPP, UICN.

1 Brian Atwood, USAID Administrator,n his preface to NewPartnerships n the Americas:The Spirit of Rio, 1994 (Washington,D.C.- USAID and WRI).2 Oryx, Occidental,Elf, YPF (Maxus), City, Arco.3. The governmenthas also introduced clause in the Huaorani andtitle that specifies that the state retainsrights to the sub-soils, and thatactivities aimed at contravening il developmentwithin the boundariesof the ethnic reserve are illegal.4 Permanent taff usually have BSc or Mastersdegrees inenvironmentalmanagement r natural esourceeconomicswith somepartial raining n anthropology, ociology or politicalsciences.5. University ecturersat the Catholic University of Quito, Ecuador,were earningUS$70 a month n 1994. Ecuadorian onsultantsworkingfor transnational il companieswere getting US$200 a day on average.6. One anthropologistold me that while she was stressing heimportanceof notrushing he negotiationprocess,and of respectingthe importanceof informalcommunicationn the collectivedecision-makingprocessof indigenouscommunities, he projectmanagerwas pressingherto specify aspects he was far more interestedin, such as greeting rules and other cultural diosyncrasies.

' B o r n a L a d y , became a Princess,d i e d a Saint 'Thereactionto the deathof Diana, Princess of WalesC.W. WATSON

Among all the academic and literary lights who com-mented on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, on 31August and the public reaction to it, there were severalsocial scientists but, at least as far as I could observe,there were no anthropologists.On the face of it - andleaving aside for the moment the fact that the media,even the intellectual weeklies, do not know what an-thropologistsare and so rarelycall upon them - this isparadoxical. Social anthropologists should have beenthe first specialists to turn o in the circumstances.Afterall, they make their living investigatingand analysingall those phenomenawhich came to the fore in theaftermathof the death. Ritual,collective behaviour,theforce of symbols, death andmortuaryrituals, surely allthese are the very stuff of anthropology?Furthermore,as anthropologymoves into the 21st century and astrongcase is made for the importanceof anthropolog-ists turning their gaze upon the culture and institutionsof the societies of which they themselves are membersand of which, consequently, they have the most inti-mate knowledge, what could be more appropriate hanan application of anthropologists' skills to under-standingnational events in which they are so clearlyparticipant-observers?

And yet it is preciselythe word 'national' which per-haps provides a partial explanation for the apparent e-luctance of anthropologiststo offer any commentary.We are simply not used to dealing with what happensamong largepopulations.Our knowledge and analyticaltechniques derive fromintensive studies of small popu-lations, relatively homogeneous, among whom we livefor an extendedperiodandabout whom we feel reason-ably confident (still, in these post-modernist imes) thatwe can make generalizationsregarding core vales andpractices.The scale of anything beyond the dimensionsof the face-to-face community daunts us and so weleave the largerpicture - with some misgivings abouttheirmethods - to sociologists, psychologists and pol-itical scientists. How one's fellow-academics in theSenior Common Room reacted to Diana's death andwhat conclusions we can draw from that small popula-tion are within our reach; but comments on the collec-tive response of the nation will expose us only to theridicule of straying outside our province, risking thekind of fatuous punditry well exposed by J.C. in hercolumn in the Times Literary Supplement of 26 Sep-tember p. 16)1.

C.W. Watson s alecturer n socialanthropologyat theUniversityof Kent atCanterbury.He teachesand writes on theanthropologyof theBritishIsles and on thatof Indonesia andMalaysia.

Thanks o Michael Gilbertfor sparkingoff one or twoideas, but special thanks omy wife for keepingmeabreastof mediacoverage.1. That there is a body ofopinion even within

anthropological circleswhich questionstherelevance of applyinganthropological ndhistorical nsights to modernindustrial societies ismentionedby Geertz (1983:

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oil and sustainable development in the latin american humid tropics

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