Amanda is a dual degree M.A. candidate in Latin American Studies and MSCRP at UNM.
This research was made possible in part by funding from the Latin American & Iberian Institute and Tinker Foundation Field Research Grant (FRG). For more information about the FRG please visit the LAII website.
Courtesy of Amanda Hooker : Santurban Spring During the summer of 2013, with funding awarded by the Latin American and Iberian Institute, I traveled to Bogotá and Bucaramanga for preliminary thesis research on large-scale mining in Colombia. I investigated the role that transnational, specifically Canadian, mining operations play in shaping ecologies and the social fabric of communities through one case study. The Angostura Mine site, property of Canadian Eco Oro (formerly Greystar), in the high mountain wetlands of Santander, Colombia is a current and emblematic example of the complexities that arise between territorial governance, environmental management, and land and labor rights in areas ceded to transnational capital. The research exposed further questions for investigation in land planning and political ecology, namely, the paradoxes that allow large-scale mining to be considered “sustainable development.” The case brings to light the discord between human rights/environmental protections and transnational businesses operations in areas of social conflict. The most hopeful thread in the complex story is the formation and growth of a civil society coalition, The Committee for the Defense of Water and Santurbán Páramo, comprised of individuals and organizations across a broad political spectrum that has, so far, succeeded in pressuring the government to protect their water source: a fragile and vital páramo ecosystem.
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