Canadian mega-mining in Central Mexico: Ecologically Unequal Exchange, Violence and Organized resistance 1992-2016

Abstract: This thesis examines the historical dynamics of ecologically unequal exchange, coloniality of power, and systemic violence embedded in mining activities. With the use of a combined Marxist and De-colonial critical approach, it accomplishes a political ecology analysis of Canadian mega-mining in central Mexico and the socioenvironmental conflicts related to it, particularly in Cerro de San Pedro and the sacred territory of Wirikuta, between 1992-2016. In like manner, the research focuses on how the discourses and promises of development, economic growth and sustainability have been used to conceal processes of accumulation by dispossession, often accompanied by systemic violence and militarization that aim to de-articulate opposition and resistance movements in contexts of exacerbated poverty, social inequality and environmental degradation. The present study was carried out through fieldwork, participant observation and in- depth interviews in Central Mexico during December 2010, December 2011 and February-March 2017.