Oro blanco: assembling extractivism in the lithium triangle

Abstract

As the drive for global electrification proceeds, new pressures are placed on agrarian environments in areas abundant in key minerals for electric batteries. The so-called lithium triangle between Chile, Argentina and Bolivia is one of those places. We develop an account of the ‘assemblages of extractivism’ at work in this zone that operate at a material, institutional and discursive level. Drawing on fieldwork from the region and conceptualized using different strands of political ecology and political economy, we explore how the construction of a commodity, the materiality of lithium and the role of the state intersect with local understandings and engagements with this latest form of ‘renewable extractivism’.