Spaces of Socio-Ecological Distress: Fossil Fuels, Solar Salt, and Fishing Communities in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela (original) (raw)

Syracuse University, 2012

Abstract

This dissertation examines how the livelihoods and health of fishers in the community of Ancón de Iturre have been affected by the industrial production of solar salt used mostly for the extraction and petrochemical transformations of fossil fuels in Lake Maracaibo. I argue that even though the productive infrastructure of resource extraction industries are spatially fixed in place, the social and environmental consequences resulting from the production of oil and natural gas happen not just in situ. Rather they are re-produced at different times and geographic scales away from the extraction sites as a result of the extensive spatial reach of fossil fuels. The project, grounded in political ecology and political economy of nature, endeavors to unravel the socio-ecological contradictions that emerge from the complex relations between nature and society in Ancón de Iturre. In order to uncover the complex interactions between the different actors involved in this study, I develop an approach that blends an evaluation of broader-scale material and institutional interconnections with an ethnographically oriented analysis of the day-to-day dynamics of fisher’s struggle to consolidate their livelihoods. This approach utilized a mix of qualitative methods such as archival work, document analysis, semi-structured interviews, oral histories, and participant observation. Chapter 1 introduces the research problem, the theoretical framework, the overarching argument and the methods used in this dissertation. Chapter 2 explores the history of oil politics in Venezuela since 1914 and the systematic social and environmental consequences of these processes in Lake Maracaibo. Chapter 3 examines the role of the petrochemical industry on the transformation of fossil fuels into different commodities derived from plastics, especially PVC as a modernization strategy directed by Hugo Chávez’ petrochemical revolution. Chapter 4 investigates the symbiotic relationship that exists between fossil fuel extraction, petrochemical transformations, and salt production in Venezuela by paying special attention to their material and institutional interconnections throughout the hydrocarbon commodity chain. Chapter 5 examines the socio-ecological asymmetries of industrial salt production in the southern section of Los Olivitos in the context of: (1) the relations between land appropriation, enclosure and subsequent privatization of Los Olivitos by PRODUSAL; (2) the internal divisions between scholars and environmental activists to conceptualize socio-ecological struggles in Ancón de Iturre; and (3) the effects of these processes in the community’s ability to secure their livelihoods. Finally, in Chapter 6, I recap the main findings of the dissertation, draw attention to the importance of salt, and suggest a future research agenda.

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