More-than-human synchronizations expose the fractures of the agrarian commodity frontier in the Bolivian Chiquitanía

Abstract

Deforestation at the agrarian commodity frontier in Bolivia produces deep territorial fractures, by making Indigenous livelihoods increasingly subject to agrarian extractivism. However, looking at frontiers beyond their fixed spatial representations can unveil spaces of more-than-human agency emerging at the fractures of agrarian extractivism. In this study, we focus on the relations between people, bees, forests and plants, to show how their multiple trajectories synchronize across forests, crops, and villages. Through assessing the synchronizations that underpin honey-economies, we suggest that research can notice unexpected reactions to the social and ecological devastation.