Infrastructure (Re)worldings

Susanne Hofmann talks to anthropologist and activist Mónica Montalvo from Sandía Digital about the history of hydroelectric projects in Mexico and resistance against them, with examples from Jalisco and Nayarit. They highlight the coloniality of those infrastructure projects that cause displacement and community rupture, but also discuss possible energy solutions that are small-scale, community-managed and sustainable. This podcast is in Spanish. Audio production: Susanne Hofmann

Gemaly Padua Uscanga interviews Rosa Marina Flores Cruz, Afro-Zapotec and member of the Assembly of Peoples of the Isthmus in Defence of Land and Territory (APIIDTT), as well as of the Indigenous Futures Network. They talk about the community resistance against the installation of wind parks in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the consequences of the global North’s green energy boom, and about Indigenous alternatives. This podcast is in Spanish. Audio production: Susanne Hofmann

Rita Valencia talks to Gilberto López y Rivas, research professor at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) Morelos. He is a long-term contributor to the Mexican newspaper La Jornada and committed to the struggles of Indigenous peoples and peasants. They talk about the relationship of Indigenous peoples and the state, the chances of legal defence against extractivist megaprojects, and the Government’s security strategy. This podcast is in Spanish. Audio production: Gemaly Padua Uscanga

Host Astrid Chavelas interviews José Raymundo Díaz Taboada, coordinator of the Collective Against Torture and Impunity (CCTI) in Guerrero. They talk about the hydroelectric dam La Parota, collective organising against this infrastructure project, and the conflicts and divisions it caused among communities around issues of land ownership and displacement of settlements located at the Papagayo river basin. The La Parota hydroelectric project is one of the largest hydroelectric projects planned in the hemisphere. This podcast is in Spanish. Audio production: Gemaly Padua Uscanga

Our host Rita Valencia converses with Josefa Contreras, Angpon or Zoque activist and Indigenous thinker from the Chimalapas – a dense forest region in the southwest of the state of Oaxaca in Mexico – whose intellectual inquiries are linked to the organisational processes of territorial defence. They talk about the role of cultural identity, resource extractivism and energy colonialism in the context of climate collapse, and infrastructure that promotes the way of being and inhabiting of the Zoque people. This podcast is in Spanish. Audio production: Gemaly Padua Uscanga