Epistemological Lessons from Oil Spills for the Anthropology of Risk and Disaster

Abstract (English)

Based on anthropological work of socio-environmental risk and socio-technologies of power, the research debates epistemic differences among various groups involved in oil spill disasters in Peru. The study discusses contextual lessons of techniques of biopolitical governance that do not map neatly onto livelihoods of disaster-affected communities. The analysis of damage compensation and public participation in monitoring and remediation for the socio-environmental impact of infrastructure projects reveals biopolitical strategies. In oil spill disasters around the globe, multiple socio-environmental impacts were not initially acknowledged by the emergency or remediation team. It was academics who included resident views and identified cumulative impacts on populations -especially human- and various ecosystems. The research identifies central aspects to improve monitoring and compensation systems, better reflecting complexity, beyond reductionism associated with emergency management. Fishers forced government entities to include monitoring points ignored by experts and claimed for a fair compensation. The analyses of the evolution of the media coverage of the events, as well as the local perceptions of the affected ecosystems and the environmental impacts, contrasting findings of the emergency and remediation teams, all will contribute to a better understanding of the local response to the degradation of the ecosystem and the discussion of valuation for compensation. Discussing forms of knowledge focused on local demands, highlighting effects on their livelihood, as well as power battles in monitoring and compensation valuation, all articulates an empirical critique of studies of environmental justice, the cultural politics of risk, the political ecological analysis of media, as well as discussions of the politics of theories of value in disaster reparations.