Reframing the World. Local Communities and Multinational Corporations. The case of Cajamarca, Colombia

Abstract

This research seeks to develop our understanding of the elements that define the relationship between multinational mining corporations and local peasant communities living in areas affected by large-scale gold mining in Latin America. Previous research has focused on describing the forms this relationship takes and has presumed that the relation is mostly defined by the political and economic context of the host country. This thesis argues that this relationship could be defined as essentially conflictive in nature. The relationship between mining corporations and local communities is explored through the case study of the relationship between AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) and the local peasant community of Cajamarca, Colombia. Contested mental frameworks (ethical, esthetic, imagery and epistemological discourses that are traversed by power relations) are identified as the root of conflicts that are triggered by the decisions of politically and geographically distant governments