A Political Ecology of Responsible Indigenous Mining: Dilemmas, Disputes and Challenges in the Shuar Community of Congüime in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Abstract

Since 2016, the Shuar indigenous community of Congüime in the Ecuadorian Amazon has held the gold mining concession in its territory through the community company Exploken Minera. With its mission of socially and ecologically responsible mining, investing the incomes in the community and without using chemicals or heavy metals, this unique model contrasts with transnational and illegal mining in indigenous territories. The present ethnographic study, which draws theoretical and methodological inspiration from political ecology, environmental justice, post-development and the conceptualization of real utopias, deals with the experiences of socio-environmental governance and justice of the Shuar mining company, and the dilemmas, disputes and challenges that emerge in the community in this unprecedented situation. The result indicates that structural challenges remain unsolved. While Exploken's experiments in socio-ecological responsibility constitute an alternative to destructive extractivism, and considering the improved living conditions enjoyed by many Shuar families, new social tensions have emerged in Congüime, including transformations of social power structures