Road Expansion in the Peruvian Amazon: The 'Enchantments' of the Manu Road (SpringerBriefs in Latin American Studies)

This book provides in-depth insights into the construction of the first road to reach riparian communities and the main access point to a national park in the Amazonian rain forest. It is based on an ethnographic investigation in Peru’s Manu Province in the Amazon, which explored diverse local attitudes towards the construction of a road in the overlapping buffer zone of two protected areas: the Manu National Park and the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve. The book reveals the applicability of Harvey and Knox’s concept of ‘enchantments of infrastructure’ in the case of first roads, but also makes accessible wider debates in political ecology such as territoriality and frontier development. The promise of first roads sparks feelings of aspiration and anticipation of the advent of development through speedy travel, economic connectivity and political integration. Yet these developments seldom take shape as expected. The author explores the perspectives, social dynamics and political maneuvers that influence first road building processes in the Amazon, which have applicability to experiences and strategies of road development elsewhere. Eduardo’s Acknowledgements 7 Contents 8 About the Authors 11 Abbreviations 12 List of Figures 13 1 Introduction 14 1.1 The Case of the Manu Road, a Biologist’s Paradise from a Political Ecology Perspective 14 1.2 Book Structure and Our Use of a Narrative Style 17 References 18 2 The Manu Area of the Peruvian Amazon, Past and Present 20 2.1 The History of Manu, Territorial Changes in the Inka Jungle 20 2.2 Recent History of the Manu Road, the Clash of Conservation and Modernization 25 References 28 3 Uncovering the ‘Enchantments of Infrastructure’, Territory and Power Relations in Context 31 3.1 The Incomplete ‘Colonization’ of the Peruvian Amazon 31 3.2 Incomplete Connectivity and Aspirations of Modernization 34 3.3 ‘Enchanting’ Roads 36 3.4 Territory and Power in Manu 41 3.4.1 The Territorial Clash Between Conservation and Modernization 42 3.4.2 Power Relations in Manu 51 3.4.3 A Postcolonial Analysis 53 References 56 4 Ethnographic Explorations. Methodological Approach and Consideration to Explore First Roads 61 4.1 Choosing a Qualitative Ethnographic Approach 61 4.2 How This Research Was Conducted 62 4.2.1 Ethnographic Fieldwork and Storytelling 62 4.2.2 Sampling and Recruitment 65 4.2.3 Review of Documents and Communications 65 4.3 Co-authorship and Positionality Matters 66 References 67 5 The ‘Enchantments’ of Speed and Political Integration 69 5.1 Stories of the ‘Enchantment’ of Speed 69 5.1.1 ‘Will I go? How will I go? When will I go?’—Eduardo’s River Transportation Experience 70 5.1.2 ‘Slowly but Surely’—Travelling on the Manu Road 71 5.1.3 ‘Our Parents Didn’t Even Know What a Road Was!’—The Effects of Decades of Connectivity 72 5.2 Not so Fast—Analysing Aspirations and Realizations Regarding Speed 75 5.2.1 Quick, Safe and Affordable Travel—The Promise of Speed 75 5.2.2 A Dead Stop—The Results of Road Connectivity 77 5.3 Stories of the ‘Enchantment’ of Political Integration 80 5.3.1 ‘... Just the Latrines’—The Dire Lack of Public Services in Diamante 80 5.3.2 ‘That’s All They Help Us with, Nothing More.’—The Immediate Effects of Connectivity 83 5.4 Road Connectivity and Isolation—Unpacking the Promise of Political Integration 87 5.4.1 A Sense of Belonging—Aspirations of Political Integration 87 5.4.2 Unfruitful Political Integration 89 References 92 6 The ‘Enchantment’ of Economic Connectivity 95 6.1 Stories of the ‘Enchantment’ of Economic Connectivity 95 6.1.1 ‘One Raceme is Nothing’—The Economic Costs of Isolation 95 6.1.2 ‘We Risk Our Cargo and Our Lives to Come!’—An Unviable Banana Market 97 6.2 A Market for Bananas, or for Timber?—Examining the ‘Enchantment’ of Economic Connectivity 100 6.2.1 The Trailers will Come—Aspirations of Economic Connectivity 101 6.2.2 Timber, the Only Profitable Market—Realizations of Economic Connectivity 103 References 107 7 Territoriality and Power in Manu 109 7.1 Stories of Power 109 7.1.1 “I Am the Chief Now!”—Power Relations in Diamante 110 7.1.2 “We Will All Become Farmers”—A Puzzling Argument Emerges 113 7.2 Unpacking Territoriality and Power on the Manu Road 118 7.2.1 “Like Monkeys in a Cage”—Territorialization for Conservation in Manu 119 7.2.2 The Magic of ‘Neoliberal Territorial Design’—Conjuring and ‘Enchantments’ in Manu 122 7.2.3 Territorialization for Conservation and ‘Neoliberal Territorial Design’—Tipping the Balance 124 7.3 “You Have to Break Eggs to Make a Cake!”—Analysing the ‘Road as Development’ Discourse in Manu 125 7.3.1 “You Don’t Live like that!”—How the Discourse of ‘Conservation as Colonization’ Is Used to Support the ‘Road as Development’ Discourse 126 7.3.2 Environmental Harmlessness—The Discourse of Local Leaders 129 7.3.3 Silenced Opposition—Contesting Arguments and Their Lack of Local Leverage 132 References 135 8 Conclusions 139 References 143 Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Introduction (Eduardo Salazar Moreira, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha)....Pages 1-6 The Manu Area of the Peruvian Amazon, Past and Present (Eduardo Salazar Moreira, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha)....Pages 7-17 Uncovering the ‘Enchantments of Infrastructure’, Territory and Power Relations in Context (Eduardo Salazar Moreira, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha)....Pages 19-48 Ethnographic Explorations. Methodological Approach and Consideration to Explore First Roads (Eduardo Salazar Moreira, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha)....Pages 49-56 The ‘Enchantments’ of Speed and Political Integration (Eduardo Salazar Moreira, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha)....Pages 57-82 The ‘Enchantment’ of Economic Connectivity (Eduardo Salazar Moreira, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha)....Pages 83-96 Territoriality and Power in Manu (Eduardo Salazar Moreira, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha)....Pages 97-126 Conclusions (Eduardo Salazar Moreira, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha)....Pages 127-132