Beyond Borders: Minerals, Territory and Movements

The expansion of mining activities that straddle the national borders between Ecuador and Peru along the Cordillera del Condor, has been accompanied with growing levels of social conflict as communities, social movements and environmentalists on both sides question the forms being taken by the extractive economy. The invasion of indigenous ancestral lands, a half a century border war, the establishment of parks-for-peace and agricultural development have contributed in shaping the social territorial dynamics in the region. The mining conflict along the Cordillera is yet another layer of territorial disputes and symbolic contestation in the regions´ history. However, what implications does the prospect of a mining district, funded by Canadian and Chinese capital, have for the physical and social landscape? How do the conflicts and the accompanying social movements impact the everyday life of people living along transnational margins? In what way are these processes delimiting and re-constructing space in ways that go beyond physical and imagined borders? Through an ethnography of the town of El Pangui in Ecuador, this paper examines the tensions between the mining industry and social movements as co-producers of territory in an historically contested area.