Barequera (gold panner) statue in Istmina (Choco, Colombia)
Gold aided the Harakmbut people survive fire in their origin myth (Madre de Dios, Peru)
Modern cadasters define mining scales according to production capacity (e.g. "small-scale mining") and technological sophistication (e.g. "artisanal mining"). However, in Latin America, categories also appear to follow identity-based criteria, such as "Black communities mining" in Colombia. Through a comparative case study, my doctoral research examined why Black communities in Colombia successfully gained recognition for alternative mining categories, while Indigenous communities in Peru were effectively banned from mining on their traditional lands. My findings suggest that formalization instigates parallel yet reciprocal territorialization processes. While communities strive to repurpose the policy to advance their territorial projects, the process simultaneously extends state authority and the extractive frontier.
To unpack this complexity, I introduce mineral ecologies—a concept that captures community governance adaptations to the socioecological changes driven by successive extraction cycles. This lens highlights the centrality of new anthropogenic aquatic bodies (mining ponds resembling mangrove networks) in the Peruvian Southern Amazon and Pacific Lowlands of Chocó. I argue that communities use formalization to gain recognition for adaptive mining practices within these uncertain aquatic environments and to control the chaotic proliferation of mining on their lands. However, variation in policy outcome is explained by multi-scalar political settlements—particularly the interaction between international development discourses and the expansion of legal extractive frontier in areas claimed by ethnic collectives. This tension results in an erratic formalization implementation that limitedly aprehends ethnicity, justice, and aquatic fluctuations into cadastral systems.
Pathways to recognition hinge upon flexible and empathetic understanding of complex socio-ecological dynamics, as demonstrated by the Colombian case. In the absence of any path, indigenous miners will rely on informal governance mechanisms, which are often perceived as more reliable than unstable policy development.
Abandoned mining pond, Madre de Dios (Peru)
Picture featured in the Journal of Latin American Geography (2020)
A "follow the thing" approach inspired our multi-sited fieldwork to reconstruct gold trade circuits in Peru (Journal of Rural Studies, 2023)
My doctoral research fostered long-lasting partnerships that encouraged me to link informal mining governance with applied value chain and policy analysis. As an Honorary Fellow at the Center for Mining and Sustainability (CEMS, Pacifico University), I co-led an interdisciplinary, USAID-commissioned team tasked with tracing the gold supply chain from mine to market.
This research utilized multi-sited ethnography to map the circuits connecting mining communities in the Amazon, the Andes, and overseas markets. We found that despite geographical differences, all routes converge to concentrate gold for international buyers.
We deepened this exploration by examining how the Peruvian government attempts to enforce traceability. Our findings suggest that all actors—from miners to state regulators—engage in performative governance practices, where weak capacity to enforce and comply is masked by "data fetishism" and theatrical compliance tactics. These results were directly utilized by the Peruvian Policy on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining to expand regulation into trade and traceability.
Gold buying shop in Ocongate (Cusco, Peru)
Findings belonging to this program have been published in Environmental Sciences & Policy, Journal of Rural Studies, and The Extractive Industries and Society. The awards that supported this initiative include the Melbourne Research Scholarship, the Australian Research Council Laureate on comparative mining, Beca Andina of Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos, the Edna Bailey Sussman Fund (with merit) and intramural funds (School of Geography at the University of Melbourne, the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University, and the Centro de Estudios de Minería y la Sostenibilidad at Universidad del Pacífico).