Miners and indígenas: Local governance, gold mining and environmental disputes in Guainía

Abstract

Based on ethnographic fieldwork developed in Guainía between 2013 and 2019, this article analyses how local governance of mining was made out of official and informal enterprises that control the access and distribution of gold in the region. This article shows how the arrangements and agreements between miners and indígenas that made possible informal mining in Guainía are not opposed to state rule or state policies that regulate this activity, but are part of processes of state-building from below. Finally, the article explores the ways in which mining, state policies and socio-environmental conflicts reshaped the relationships and subjectivities of both miners and indígenas that work in gold extraction.