Cuts, Flows, and Leaks: Enclaving Practices and Countertopographies at Bolivia's Hydrocarbon-Conservation Frontier / Cortes, flujos y fugas: prácticas de enclavamiento y contratopografías en la frontera hidrocarburosconservación de Bolivia

Anthias, Penelope

Abstract

This paper interrogates the spatial practices and politics involved in remaking Bolivia's protected areas as territories of extraction, focusing on the ongoing conflict over natural gas development in the Tariquía National Reserve of Flora and Fauna. Extending and connecting debates on enclave infrastructures, neoextractivist state formation, and resource futures, I argue that territorialising this hydrocarbon frontier rests on a double movement of cuts and flows. On the one hand, enclaving practices work to minimise environmental impacts, restrict access to sites of extraction, and shield hydrocarbon companies from local efforts to hold them accountable. On the other hand, the state directs flows of money, infrastructure, and political influence to territories of extraction to manufacture consent, situating these spaces within broader geographies of hydrocarbon citizenship. I show how the boundaries and governance structures of protected areas—key sites for new extraction in Bolivia—have become implicated in the management of these cuts and flows. The paper advances understanding of neoextractivist territorialisation, while also highlighting how anti-extractivist peasant movements disrupt this spatial production by mobilising around extraction's leaky materialities and knowledge across extractive sites and project cycles.

Citation

Anthias, P. (2024). Cuts, Flows, and Leaks: Enclaving Practices and Countertopographies at Bolivia's Hydrocarbon-Conservation Frontier / Cortes, flujos y fugas: prácticas de enclavamiento y contratopografías en la frontera hidrocarburosconservación de Bolivia. Journal of Latin American Geography, 23(3), 138-166. https://doi.org/10.1353/lag.2024.a948099

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 18, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Dec 28, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-12
• Deposit Date: Jan 28, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 28, 2025
• Journal: Journal of Latin American Geography
• Print ISSN: 1545-2476
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 138-166
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/lag.2024.a948099
• Keywords: Extractivism, neoextractivism, resource enclave, Bolivia, space, territory, conservation, protected areas, anti-extractivist social movements
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3355046