Mining, water, ethnography and anthropology

On February 4, the talk “Ethnographic research on water and mining” took place by the guest professor Teresa Velásquez, with the presence of the UDA Open Chair of Anthropology professors Kamila Torres and Gabriela Eljuri.

Teresa Velásquez has a Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Texas and an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the California State University (San Bernardino).

She also works as an associate researcher for FLACSO-Ecuador and the University of Manchester in the territory, development and conflict program in Los Andes.

When analyzing the relationship between mining and anthropology, Velásquez indicated that "various texts in the anthropological literature have focused on class consciousness, community building, and other issues related to people who work in the mines."

The speaker added that mining projects today produce new geographies of extraction, which invite to investigate the multiple effects of nature and development.

Teresa Velásquez ended her presentation by highlighting the importance of water in mining conflicts.

"The ethnography of water has the ability to understand different ways of making water, it is through this that new social movements emerge to defend life with the ability to democratize and think about forms of development."

UDA Correspondent