Godofredo Pereira | Royal College of Art (original) (raw)
Environmental and Territorial Architectures by Godofredo Pereira
Architectural Design Green New Deal, 2021
Urgent and far-reaching steps are necessary to reorient global economies to address the global en... more Urgent and far-reaching steps are necessary to reorient global economies to address the global environmental and climate emergency. Both IPCC and Paris Agreements commit industrialised nations to drastic reductions of their CO2 emissions so as to keep the rise in global average temperature to well below 1.5 °C. At the same time we know that the environmental emergency is not simply a matter of CO2 emissions, but of feedback loops between multiple metabolic rifts. The challenge is one that requires systematic transformations in planning for sustainable and just modes of coexistence across the planet, in such a way that is globally equitable, while able to both mitigate the impacts of climate breakdown, as well as creating reliable and dependable plans for the future.
Dispatches Journal, 2019
In recent years, the development of technologies that allow scientists to look deeper into bones,... more In recent years, the development of technologies that allow scientists to look deeper into bones, such as advances in molecular biology, DNA analysis, and toxicological procedures, has facilitated the prosecution of human rights violations. Still, the impact of exhumations and their instrumentality extends far beyond the remit of scientific or legal forums. In many cases, exhumations are performed in postcolonial contexts and in relation to histories of genocide, ecocide, and other forms of socio-environmental violence. In such contexts, to exhume is never simple; what comes from below carries an excess that is hard to define, contain, or control. Because of that, exhumations are always powerful interventions.
Forensis, The Architecture of Public Truth, Mar 2014
Global environmental change poses two immediate challenges to architecture: the first is how to r... more Global environmental change poses two immediate challenges to architecture: the first is how to respond to its myriad consequences, from rapid transformations in land-use to food scarcity or population displacements; the second is how to reassess the legal, ethical and political limits of architecture's responsibilities, as—from an environmental perspective—these cannot be confined to the limits of the building. All around the world several inroads are being made to address these issues, from adopting sustainable building practices to incorporating concerns with materials' embodied energy and CO2 emissions. And yet, the multi-scalar complexity and intricate chains of causality that characterize environmental issues, not to mention the different ways in which these affect architecture, requires moving beyond piecemeal responses to a more systematic approach. It implies the development of a new field, concerned with re-imagining architecture as a practice that has the environment as its object of concern.
Hybrid Ecologies, 2019
This paper argues that ecological thinking should concern itself first and foremost with modes of... more This paper argues that ecological thinking should concern itself first and foremost with modes of existence, providing an example of how architecture can contribute to forms of ecological resistance through the design of collective equipment.
[paper written for a conference in 2017, published in 2021].
Revista Lugar Comum nº41, Apr 2014
Techno-scientific practices of material classification are key to resource extraction: from the s... more Techno-scientific practices of material classification are key to resource extraction: from the sampling of soils in the search for precious minerals to the sampling of microorganisms for medical purposes, material classification allows the conversion of every minute aspect of the Earth into a potential resource. In particular, geology and biology have provided the main tools through which the Earth is axiomatized, allowing it to enter multiple regimes of economic and financial calculation. Even if the classification of nature according to scientific frameworks is not necessarily related to the practice of resource extraction, it carries within itself a propensity for instrumentalization (numbering, classifying). In any case, the problem is not science per se, but the fact that its “eliminativist” mobilization—to paraphrase Stengers—has come to constitute “common sense” for how nature is to be understood.[1] Thus, today, we are facing the important question: Is it possible to decolonize techno-scientific practices? The well-known case of Yasuní-ITT in Ecuador provides, in my view, a unique perspective from which we can start to discuss these problems.
This paper will focus on the current global expansion of special economic zones to argue how thes... more This paper will focus on the current global expansion of special economic zones to argue how these operate as land grabbing tools. In particular it will focus the spatial, territorial, urban and architectural dimensions of special economic zones. It will do this in two ways. Firstly by tracing the emergence of zones across the history of urban development, from the Mediterranean trading free port cities to the seventies expansion of free-trade zones throughout Asia. But more extensively, by tracing the struggles of the peoples of Casiguran, Philippines, against the implementation the special economic zone APECO on their lands. Presenting itself as an eco-friendly economic zone, APECO proposes to attract foreign investment for the development of a sustainable agri-aqua business project that would profit from Casriguran's pristine environment to tap into the global bio-tech revolution. Its implementation, however, comes at the cost of massive dispossession of peoples and despite being in its early stages it is already causing a dramatic environmental destruction. Focusing on how discourses on sustainability, green urbanism or eco-friendly architecture are central to APECO's rhetoric, the paper will argue that the contemporary emergence of low-carbon and sustainable models of SEZ's is symptomatic of the mobilization of ecological discourses by laboratorial forms of environmental calculus. It will argue how a global partnership between sustainability and neo-liberalism that in the last decades has been pushing land-grabbing policies under the guise of economic development is now incorporating ecological concerns into its media processes. Finally, by describing how trading enclaves or various sorts have become the rule of contemporary modes of urbanization -as dispossession machines that lie outside of democratic accountability- the essay will argue that, contrarily to common discourse, SEZ's are not exceptions but in fact a diagram of how urban development is increasingly taking place today, all across the globe.
Collective Equipment by Godofredo Pereira
Revista Lugar Comum, 2018
Desde escolas a teatros populares, clubes sociais ou centros comunitários, equipamentos coletivos... more Desde escolas a teatros populares, clubes sociais ou centros comunitários, equipamentos coletivos são fulcrais para diversos movimentos sociais e organizações populares por todo o mundo. Equipamentos coletivos dão consistência a processos políticos transformativos, e é-lhes reconhecido impacto sobre saúde mental, e empoderamento social. Equipamentos coletivos são vitais para promover autogestão e formas de democracia radical, tal como é exemplificado pelo municipalismo radical que se encontra hoje em dia em expansão tendo como referência Barcelona, Rojava ou Rosário. Mas, como funcionam os equipamentos? Há pouco trabalho que se debruce sobre equipamentos coletivos, e principalmente sobre o modo como os equipamentos são usados ou vivenciados. Muitas vezes o esforço por parte das organizações para ter um espaço é tal que, atingido esse objetivo, todo a atenção recai sobre o seu programa principal (cultural, administrativo, social), mas pouca reflexão é dada ao uso e programação do equipamento no seu sentido mais alargado. Isto é, o dia-a-dia das relações internas ao equipamento. Por estas relações serem pouco pensadas, muitas vezes, convertem-se em mecanismos identitários que cristalizam relações de poder, promovem separações hierárquicas e de género, e micro-fascismos de todos géneros. Isto são patologias demasiado comuns mesmo em organizações progressistas. Do nosso ponto de vista, é essencial pensar os equipamentos coletivos como mecanismos cuja programação permite trabalhar relações ao nível do coletivo ele mesmo. Isto, na nossa perspetiva, implica primordialmente uma abordagem ambiental à sua programação. Para desenvolver esta ideia, vamos recorrer ao trabalho sobre equipamentos coletivos realizados por Félix Guattari e pelo centro de estudos CERFI. Vamos olhar para o caso da clínica psiquiátrica La Borde, equipamento coletivo em ato, lugar de teste e experimentação deste
arqa 124, 2016
A Costa de Almada vai desde o Ginjal até à Cova do Vapor, no encon-tro do Tejo com o Atlântico. U... more A Costa de Almada vai desde o Ginjal até à Cova do Vapor, no encon-tro do Tejo com o Atlântico. Uma arriba fossilizada talhada por erosão marinha faz com que por entre as suas porosas encostas se tenham ao longo dos tempos recortado enseadas, protegidas do vento e das marés. Do ponto de vista jurídico Lisboa termina no Rio Tejo. Mas as ci-dades não são apenas figuras jurídico-legais. De um ponto de vista ar-quitectónico Lisboa tem outros limites e é dessa Lisboa que a costa ribeirinha de Almada faz parte, crescendo como espaço de apoio às funções mais nobres da capital. À escala territorial caracteriza-se pela sua localização estratégia na margem oposta a Lisboa. Os seus conjun-tos edificados surgem como parte de máquinas produtivas que operam a escalas globais e, por isso a costa cresce ao longo do séc. XX através da adição de objectos isolados que se preocupam mais com a logística capitalista do que com o fazer cidade. São os desenvolvimentos fabris e industriais que mais se destacam, desde os estaleiros navais à tanoaria, passando pelas fábricas da indústria conserveira, terminais de combus-tíveis e de cereais. Edificados com o propósito de agilizar o transporte de mercadorias os seus edifícios marcam também o dia a dia de milhares de trabalhadores, e por essa razão vão ser determinantes para a identidade colectiva das populações da 'outra margem'. Assim, se desde meados do séc. XIX movimentos operários e sindicais marcam a costa como espaço de re-sistência política, também o aparecimento de organizações de solidarie-dade, de grupos de teatro ou de grupos desportivos é evidência das colectividades que aí se vão formando.
Books by Godofredo Pereira
"What is to be gained by arguing that objects speak? What do recent turns to the non-human and to... more "What is to be gained by arguing that objects speak? What do recent turns to the non-human and to things have in common? And what conflicts are emerging within the apparently consensual removal of the human from the centre of the problem of knowledge? Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in objects, things, and the non-human – a gradual departure from the domination of text, language, and discourse in previous decades, or, as is often said, a move away from the human as the central point of reference for thinking the world. The claim that there is a consensual turn is compounded by the emergence of numerous publications on non-human actors in fields as diverse as archaeology, science studies, anthropology, philosophy, history, art, and architecture; works in which the divide between nature and culture or between humans and non-humans is effaced, where complex assemblages of people and things challenge thought procedures, and where the ground upon which modernity itself was founded becomes the object of contention. However, if we look closely at the different ways in which these topics are being discussed, the image of a uniform turn immediately disappears; we find that recent attempts to emancipate objects are contingent upon and differentiated by the practices in which they emerge. With this in mind, the present book tries for the first time to bring together several different forums in which objects are being discussed anew, suggesting that the conflicts arising from fortuitous encounters between researchers might be more productive than a consensual turn to post-humanism.
The book takes as its point of departure two well-worn notions, objects and savages, specifically in reference to a Savage Thought that we provocatively twist upon itself, bringing to light not the thought per se but its object and the resistance this object holds to thought. We invited contributions from very different fields to respond to this provocation – from philosophers, archaeologists and anthropologists, to activists, architects and artists – to focus not only on objects themselves but also on the practices within which they are constituted and the territories they refer to. By framing these discussions within object-research as well as academic discourse – in fields ranging from textual production, legal forums, image migration, state performance, and acoustic exploration – speculation about objects and things also becomes a discussion about conflicting ecologies of thought, thus providing insight into often overlooked pragmatic and political dimensions. Ultimately, our hope is that, by bringing such diverse practices together, new lines of thought can be suggested and spaces for new alliances be forged.
Edited by Godofredo Pereira"
Other Writings by Godofredo Pereira
This paper engages the concept of ‘architectural enunciation’, developed by Félix Guattari, in Sc... more This paper engages the concept of ‘architectural enunciation’, developed by Félix Guattari, in Schizoanalytic Cartographies, for a productive encounter with architectural theory. Architectural enunciation is a broad notion that refers to the formation of architectural constants at multiple levels, from stylistic, technical and programmatic aspects to spatial organizations, material processes or building codes. However, the paper proposes that what Guattari refers to as enunciation is more adequately described as processes of formalization: the development of construction systems or the mutations in the programs of social housing, for instance, are processes of formalization, even if often momentary or precarious.
Architectural Design Green New Deal, 2021
Urgent and far-reaching steps are necessary to reorient global economies to address the global en... more Urgent and far-reaching steps are necessary to reorient global economies to address the global environmental and climate emergency. Both IPCC and Paris Agreements commit industrialised nations to drastic reductions of their CO2 emissions so as to keep the rise in global average temperature to well below 1.5 °C. At the same time we know that the environmental emergency is not simply a matter of CO2 emissions, but of feedback loops between multiple metabolic rifts. The challenge is one that requires systematic transformations in planning for sustainable and just modes of coexistence across the planet, in such a way that is globally equitable, while able to both mitigate the impacts of climate breakdown, as well as creating reliable and dependable plans for the future.
Dispatches Journal, 2019
In recent years, the development of technologies that allow scientists to look deeper into bones,... more In recent years, the development of technologies that allow scientists to look deeper into bones, such as advances in molecular biology, DNA analysis, and toxicological procedures, has facilitated the prosecution of human rights violations. Still, the impact of exhumations and their instrumentality extends far beyond the remit of scientific or legal forums. In many cases, exhumations are performed in postcolonial contexts and in relation to histories of genocide, ecocide, and other forms of socio-environmental violence. In such contexts, to exhume is never simple; what comes from below carries an excess that is hard to define, contain, or control. Because of that, exhumations are always powerful interventions.
Forensis, The Architecture of Public Truth, Mar 2014
Global environmental change poses two immediate challenges to architecture: the first is how to r... more Global environmental change poses two immediate challenges to architecture: the first is how to respond to its myriad consequences, from rapid transformations in land-use to food scarcity or population displacements; the second is how to reassess the legal, ethical and political limits of architecture's responsibilities, as—from an environmental perspective—these cannot be confined to the limits of the building. All around the world several inroads are being made to address these issues, from adopting sustainable building practices to incorporating concerns with materials' embodied energy and CO2 emissions. And yet, the multi-scalar complexity and intricate chains of causality that characterize environmental issues, not to mention the different ways in which these affect architecture, requires moving beyond piecemeal responses to a more systematic approach. It implies the development of a new field, concerned with re-imagining architecture as a practice that has the environment as its object of concern.
Hybrid Ecologies, 2019
This paper argues that ecological thinking should concern itself first and foremost with modes of... more This paper argues that ecological thinking should concern itself first and foremost with modes of existence, providing an example of how architecture can contribute to forms of ecological resistance through the design of collective equipment.
[paper written for a conference in 2017, published in 2021].
Revista Lugar Comum nº41, Apr 2014
Techno-scientific practices of material classification are key to resource extraction: from the s... more Techno-scientific practices of material classification are key to resource extraction: from the sampling of soils in the search for precious minerals to the sampling of microorganisms for medical purposes, material classification allows the conversion of every minute aspect of the Earth into a potential resource. In particular, geology and biology have provided the main tools through which the Earth is axiomatized, allowing it to enter multiple regimes of economic and financial calculation. Even if the classification of nature according to scientific frameworks is not necessarily related to the practice of resource extraction, it carries within itself a propensity for instrumentalization (numbering, classifying). In any case, the problem is not science per se, but the fact that its “eliminativist” mobilization—to paraphrase Stengers—has come to constitute “common sense” for how nature is to be understood.[1] Thus, today, we are facing the important question: Is it possible to decolonize techno-scientific practices? The well-known case of Yasuní-ITT in Ecuador provides, in my view, a unique perspective from which we can start to discuss these problems.
This paper will focus on the current global expansion of special economic zones to argue how thes... more This paper will focus on the current global expansion of special economic zones to argue how these operate as land grabbing tools. In particular it will focus the spatial, territorial, urban and architectural dimensions of special economic zones. It will do this in two ways. Firstly by tracing the emergence of zones across the history of urban development, from the Mediterranean trading free port cities to the seventies expansion of free-trade zones throughout Asia. But more extensively, by tracing the struggles of the peoples of Casiguran, Philippines, against the implementation the special economic zone APECO on their lands. Presenting itself as an eco-friendly economic zone, APECO proposes to attract foreign investment for the development of a sustainable agri-aqua business project that would profit from Casriguran's pristine environment to tap into the global bio-tech revolution. Its implementation, however, comes at the cost of massive dispossession of peoples and despite being in its early stages it is already causing a dramatic environmental destruction. Focusing on how discourses on sustainability, green urbanism or eco-friendly architecture are central to APECO's rhetoric, the paper will argue that the contemporary emergence of low-carbon and sustainable models of SEZ's is symptomatic of the mobilization of ecological discourses by laboratorial forms of environmental calculus. It will argue how a global partnership between sustainability and neo-liberalism that in the last decades has been pushing land-grabbing policies under the guise of economic development is now incorporating ecological concerns into its media processes. Finally, by describing how trading enclaves or various sorts have become the rule of contemporary modes of urbanization -as dispossession machines that lie outside of democratic accountability- the essay will argue that, contrarily to common discourse, SEZ's are not exceptions but in fact a diagram of how urban development is increasingly taking place today, all across the globe.
Revista Lugar Comum, 2018
Desde escolas a teatros populares, clubes sociais ou centros comunitários, equipamentos coletivos... more Desde escolas a teatros populares, clubes sociais ou centros comunitários, equipamentos coletivos são fulcrais para diversos movimentos sociais e organizações populares por todo o mundo. Equipamentos coletivos dão consistência a processos políticos transformativos, e é-lhes reconhecido impacto sobre saúde mental, e empoderamento social. Equipamentos coletivos são vitais para promover autogestão e formas de democracia radical, tal como é exemplificado pelo municipalismo radical que se encontra hoje em dia em expansão tendo como referência Barcelona, Rojava ou Rosário. Mas, como funcionam os equipamentos? Há pouco trabalho que se debruce sobre equipamentos coletivos, e principalmente sobre o modo como os equipamentos são usados ou vivenciados. Muitas vezes o esforço por parte das organizações para ter um espaço é tal que, atingido esse objetivo, todo a atenção recai sobre o seu programa principal (cultural, administrativo, social), mas pouca reflexão é dada ao uso e programação do equipamento no seu sentido mais alargado. Isto é, o dia-a-dia das relações internas ao equipamento. Por estas relações serem pouco pensadas, muitas vezes, convertem-se em mecanismos identitários que cristalizam relações de poder, promovem separações hierárquicas e de género, e micro-fascismos de todos géneros. Isto são patologias demasiado comuns mesmo em organizações progressistas. Do nosso ponto de vista, é essencial pensar os equipamentos coletivos como mecanismos cuja programação permite trabalhar relações ao nível do coletivo ele mesmo. Isto, na nossa perspetiva, implica primordialmente uma abordagem ambiental à sua programação. Para desenvolver esta ideia, vamos recorrer ao trabalho sobre equipamentos coletivos realizados por Félix Guattari e pelo centro de estudos CERFI. Vamos olhar para o caso da clínica psiquiátrica La Borde, equipamento coletivo em ato, lugar de teste e experimentação deste
arqa 124, 2016
A Costa de Almada vai desde o Ginjal até à Cova do Vapor, no encon-tro do Tejo com o Atlântico. U... more A Costa de Almada vai desde o Ginjal até à Cova do Vapor, no encon-tro do Tejo com o Atlântico. Uma arriba fossilizada talhada por erosão marinha faz com que por entre as suas porosas encostas se tenham ao longo dos tempos recortado enseadas, protegidas do vento e das marés. Do ponto de vista jurídico Lisboa termina no Rio Tejo. Mas as ci-dades não são apenas figuras jurídico-legais. De um ponto de vista ar-quitectónico Lisboa tem outros limites e é dessa Lisboa que a costa ribeirinha de Almada faz parte, crescendo como espaço de apoio às funções mais nobres da capital. À escala territorial caracteriza-se pela sua localização estratégia na margem oposta a Lisboa. Os seus conjun-tos edificados surgem como parte de máquinas produtivas que operam a escalas globais e, por isso a costa cresce ao longo do séc. XX através da adição de objectos isolados que se preocupam mais com a logística capitalista do que com o fazer cidade. São os desenvolvimentos fabris e industriais que mais se destacam, desde os estaleiros navais à tanoaria, passando pelas fábricas da indústria conserveira, terminais de combus-tíveis e de cereais. Edificados com o propósito de agilizar o transporte de mercadorias os seus edifícios marcam também o dia a dia de milhares de trabalhadores, e por essa razão vão ser determinantes para a identidade colectiva das populações da 'outra margem'. Assim, se desde meados do séc. XIX movimentos operários e sindicais marcam a costa como espaço de re-sistência política, também o aparecimento de organizações de solidarie-dade, de grupos de teatro ou de grupos desportivos é evidência das colectividades que aí se vão formando.
"What is to be gained by arguing that objects speak? What do recent turns to the non-human and to... more "What is to be gained by arguing that objects speak? What do recent turns to the non-human and to things have in common? And what conflicts are emerging within the apparently consensual removal of the human from the centre of the problem of knowledge? Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in objects, things, and the non-human – a gradual departure from the domination of text, language, and discourse in previous decades, or, as is often said, a move away from the human as the central point of reference for thinking the world. The claim that there is a consensual turn is compounded by the emergence of numerous publications on non-human actors in fields as diverse as archaeology, science studies, anthropology, philosophy, history, art, and architecture; works in which the divide between nature and culture or between humans and non-humans is effaced, where complex assemblages of people and things challenge thought procedures, and where the ground upon which modernity itself was founded becomes the object of contention. However, if we look closely at the different ways in which these topics are being discussed, the image of a uniform turn immediately disappears; we find that recent attempts to emancipate objects are contingent upon and differentiated by the practices in which they emerge. With this in mind, the present book tries for the first time to bring together several different forums in which objects are being discussed anew, suggesting that the conflicts arising from fortuitous encounters between researchers might be more productive than a consensual turn to post-humanism.
The book takes as its point of departure two well-worn notions, objects and savages, specifically in reference to a Savage Thought that we provocatively twist upon itself, bringing to light not the thought per se but its object and the resistance this object holds to thought. We invited contributions from very different fields to respond to this provocation – from philosophers, archaeologists and anthropologists, to activists, architects and artists – to focus not only on objects themselves but also on the practices within which they are constituted and the territories they refer to. By framing these discussions within object-research as well as academic discourse – in fields ranging from textual production, legal forums, image migration, state performance, and acoustic exploration – speculation about objects and things also becomes a discussion about conflicting ecologies of thought, thus providing insight into often overlooked pragmatic and political dimensions. Ultimately, our hope is that, by bringing such diverse practices together, new lines of thought can be suggested and spaces for new alliances be forged.
Edited by Godofredo Pereira"
This paper engages the concept of ‘architectural enunciation’, developed by Félix Guattari, in Sc... more This paper engages the concept of ‘architectural enunciation’, developed by Félix Guattari, in Schizoanalytic Cartographies, for a productive encounter with architectural theory. Architectural enunciation is a broad notion that refers to the formation of architectural constants at multiple levels, from stylistic, technical and programmatic aspects to spatial organizations, material processes or building codes. However, the paper proposes that what Guattari refers to as enunciation is more adequately described as processes of formalization: the development of construction systems or the mutations in the programs of social housing, for instance, are processes of formalization, even if often momentary or precarious.
This essay proposes a new semio-pragmatic framework to grasp the different assemblages of power i... more This essay proposes a new semio-pragmatic framework to grasp the different assemblages of power in which
architecture participates. It does so by deploying Félix Guattari’s pragmatic conceptualisation of enunciation,
developed in Schizoanalytic Cartographies, as the basis for a renewed analysis of the Red House by Philip
Webb and William Morris. In distinguishing between polyphonic and ethico-aesthetic vectors of analysis, this
framework is able to capture the heterogeneity of forces at work in the project and the multiple ways in which
these enter in composition with people. In doing so, the essay attempts to expand our mode of understanding
architecture and how it operates beyond both critical and phenomenological paradigms. Ultimately, this essay
provides a new perspective on what an architectural project consists of.
Lugar Comum – Estudos de mídia, cultura e democracia, 2018
DIAPHANES eBooks, Oct 1, 2017
The importance of architecture to clinical and psychiatric care is widely asserted. Foucault'... more The importance of architecture to clinical and psychiatric care is widely asserted. Foucault's writings have demonstrated how architecture has both mirrored and influenced conceptions of mental illness through history. However, this is different from considering space itself an intrinsic factor of the clinical process. This paper will explore the relationship between the clinical and the spatial trough three instances. It will start at Saint-Alban’s hospital where Tosquelles and Bonnafe laid the ground of the French institutional psychotherapy movement. Here the concern with space first emerges as an economic and political issue. To avoid famine and extinction bars and windows were removed and the doors opened. This allowed establishing a support network with family and village farmers. The paper then moves to Jean Oury and La Borde clinic. It will explore the theorization of'architectonic relations', 'atmosphere' and 'patoplasty' as the affirmation of sp...
Architectural Theory Review, 2017
This thesis looks at the ways in which techno-scientific modes of seeing, classifying and meas-ur... more This thesis looks at the ways in which techno-scientific modes of seeing, classifying and meas-uring the earth are reformulating territorial disputes in areas of resource extraction. It will start by arguing that, due to the mobilisation of science by capital, the earth is being reduced to discrete components, converted into resources and potentials for extraction. The idea of the underground frontier will be presented as the extreme case of this condition: no longer simply the space where resources are located, the underground is itself being converted into a resource. Discussing a series of disputes over resource extraction, it will focus, in particular, on the spatial and political assemblages of which technoscience is a part: how it is mobilised, used, financed, and how it becomes part of wider political, cultural or legal claims. Drawing on fieldwork carried out in the Atacama Desert in Chile, this thesis will travel to the Niger Delta in Nigeria, home to the world’s most exten...