Andrea Marston | Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (original) (raw)

Papers by Andrea Marston

With the ratification of its new constitution in 2009, Bolivia was transformed into a " plurinati... more With the ratification of its new constitution in 2009, Bolivia was transformed into a " plurinational state " associated with ecologically oriented values, yet resource extraction has expanded ever since. Fieldwork conducted in communities in highland Bolivia shows how resource extraction sustains and is sustained by " revolutionary narratives " in which the state—led by President Evo Morales—is configured as the protagonist of the plurina-tional era. Examination of the challenges presented by Bolivia's indigenous communities and mining cooperatives to this revolutionary narrative during the 2014 adoption of new mining legislation suggests that shifting critical focus away from revolutionary change toward what David Scott calls the " politics of the present " might be a more fruitful way to think about the relationship between resource extraction and Bolivia's plurinationalism. Al ratificar su nueva constitución en 2009, Bolivia se transformó en un " estado pluri-nacional " asociado con valores ecológicos; sin embargo, la extracción de recursos se ha expandido desde entonces. Investigaciones llevado a cabo en comunidades de las tierras altas de Bolivia muestran cómo la extracción de recursos sostiene y se sustenta en las " narrativas revolucionarias " en las que el estado, encabezado por el presidente Evo Morales, se configura como el protagonista de la era plurinacional. Examinar como las comunidades indígenas y las cooperativas mineras de Bolivia cuestionaron esta narrativa revolucionaria durante la adopción de la nueva legislación minera en 2014 sugiere que virar el enfoque crítico desde el cambio revolucionario hacia lo que David Scott llama la " política del presente " podría ser una forma más fructífera pensar en la relación entre la extracción de recursos y el plurinacionalismo boliviano.

This article reviews the relationship between mining and water governance with an emphasis on Lat... more This article reviews the relationship between mining and water governance with an emphasis on Latin America. Focusing on the last decade, it identifies three major shifts in global mineral relations: (1) changes to corporation–community relations, most noticeable in corporate social responsibility projects; (2) changes to state–society relations, where there has been a simultaneous strengthening of international support for community rights and a reassertion of the nation-state through so-called 'resource nationalism'; and (3) challenges to the notion of 'community,' which must now stretch to encompass small-scale and artisanal miners. While examining each of these thematic shifts, the paper draws out the relationship between mining and water, suggesting that attention to the 'alloyed waterscape' of global mining would provide a compelling conceptual lens through which to explore dynamics that transcend scales and institutional divides.

This paper introduces the concept of ‘not-quite-neoliberal natures’ in relation to contemporary t... more This paper introduces the concept of ‘not-quite-neoliberal natures’ in relation to contemporary theoretical debates and Latin American political processes. The phrase is meant to signal both our appreciation of and reservations about theoretical elaborations of neoliberalism, post- neoliberalism, and (post-)neoliberal natures in relation to the wide variety of reforms currently transforming resource governance in Latin America. After reviewing theoretical debates about (post-)neoliberalism and situating them within Latin American history, we present the major themes emerging across the papers in this special issue: (1) the prevalence of concomitant and overlapping political processes, (2) the productivity of tensions and contradictions, particularly with respect to the state-society relationship, and (3) dynamism, or an insistence on the depth and liveliness of ‘context’ and ‘contestation’.

The production of the urban waterscape is an ongoing process. In this paper, I examine the strate... more The production of the urban waterscape is an ongoing process. In this paper, I examine the strategies used by members of 'water committees' in peri-urban Cochabamba, Bolivia in their attempts to ensure the longterm integration of their community-run water systems into municipal water plans. My analysis underscores two
points. First, the water committees and their advocates have engaged a range of scalar strategies in an effort to transform their water systems from informal to quasi-formal (and therefore more temporally stable) structures. Second, I contend that the literature on politics of scale can potentially enrich theories of urban informality. Interpreting the political strategies of informal collectives through a scalar lens highlights the fact that 'interinstitutional' alliances are usually also – and importantly – multi-scalar. The literature on politics of scale, moreover, offers an important reminder about the role of history in urban waterscapes. Scales of governance are not politically neutral, and scalar interventions can engage historical legacies that are not necessarily compatible with contemporary aspirations.

In the last two decades, the fair trade movement has undergone significant institutional changes.... more In the last two decades, the fair trade movement has undergone significant institutional changes. From an informal network of activists and producers, it has evolved into a structured set of actors whose collective adherence to ‘‘fair’’ principles is guaranteed by external certification programs. Focusing on the craft sector, this paper explores the impacts of both the material practice of certification (evaluation and monitoring)
and the semiotic practice of certification (product labeling). Drawing on a collaborative research experience with a craftswomen’s cooperative in the Ecuadorian Andes, it argues that the material practice of certification impedes artisans’ attempts to join the formal Fair Trade network, while the semiotic practice of certification limits fair trade’s ability to ‘‘lift the veil’’ of the commodity fetish, which was one of the central goals of the original movement.

Bolivia’s leftward political shift, which is frequently described as ‘‘post-neoliberal,’’ is cruc... more Bolivia’s leftward political shift, which is frequently described as ‘‘post-neoliberal,’’ is crucially linked to the ideal of autonomy. While autonomy has a long history among leftist theorists and social movements in Latin America, its contemporary importance is related to an ongoing effort on the part of scholars and activists to identify an alternative organizational form that eschews both state actors and private entities. Drawing on fieldwork conducted with a group of community-run water systems in peri-urban Cochabamba, this paper asks what autonomous water governance looks like in practice. By presenting a case in which the community water systems made a series of structurally limited ‘‘autonomous’’ decisions that ultimately bound them more closely to the local state and private sector, the paper argues that autonomy faces socio-ecological limitations when conceptualized as a project of internal self-governance. Socio-ecological processes take place at multiple scales and over long time spans; a radical politics of autonomy therefore necessitates a spatially extroverted project that focuses on building strategic alliances that strengthen community autonomy in the long-term.

This paper introduces the concept of ‘not-quite-neoliberal natures’ in relation to contemporary t... more This paper introduces the concept of ‘not-quite-neoliberal natures’ in relation to contemporary theoretical debates and Latin American political processes. The phrase is meant to signal both our appreciation of and reservations about theoretical elaborations of neoliberalism, post- neoliberalism, and (post-)neoliberal natures in relation to the wide variety of reforms currently transforming resource governance in Latin America. After reviewing theoretical debates about (post--)neoliberalism and situating them within Latin American history, we present the major themes emerging across the papers in this special issue: (1) the prevalence of concomitant and overlapping political processes, (2) the productivity of tensions and contradictions, particularly with respect to the state-society relationship, and (3) dynamism, or an insistence on the depth and liveliness of ‘context’ and ‘contestation’.