The flows of sovereignty: Itaipu hydroelectric dam and the ethnography of the Paraguayan nation-state
Item
-
Title
-
The flows of sovereignty: Itaipu hydroelectric dam and the ethnography of the Paraguayan nation-state
-
Identifier
-
d_2009_2013:17d80ba69f54:11165
-
identifier
-
11562
-
Creator
-
Folch, Christine,
-
Contributor
-
Marc Edelman
-
Date
-
2012
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Cultural anthropology | Energy | Latin American studies
-
Abstract
-
"Flows of Sovereignty" explores the social and political nature of energy to show how the development and management of the hydroelectric resources of Itaipu Binational dam (co-owned by Brazil and Paraguay) have shaped the formation of the Paraguayan nation-state and regional state formation in the 20th and 21st centuries. The political, economic, and social structures and processes that emanate from Itaipu---"hydroelectric statecraft"---have resulted in a "hydrostate" model similar to but with important distinctions from petrostate formations. Moreover, these findings have implications beyond the energy politics of South America but for the development of renewable energy resources worldwide and global water management.;Leftist former Bishop Fernando Lugo toppled the six-decade ruling Colorado Party in Paraguay in April 2008, linking popular discontent to one issue: Itaipu, the world's largest dam. In 2008 it supplied 19 percent of Brazil's electricity and 95 percent of Paraguay's and Paraguay "ceded" the vast majority of its electricity to Brazil for 1/10th to 1/40 th of the price of that energy on the Brazilian market. Lugo's government promised to renegotiate this inequity and use the wealth for "social development" under the rubric of "sovereignty." This historical ethnography is drawn from unparalleled access to leaders in the government as they negotiated with Brazil and administered the dam, social movements as they mobilized for "hydroelectric sovereignty," and archival evidence within Itaipu and the Stroessner-era secret police Archives of Terror.;Section I begins with the dam's founding as an expression of the Stroessner military dictatorship's dominance over nature and nation, local and international causes for construction of the dam and how Itaipu enabled the growth of the Paraguayan state apparatus, including the surveillance-torture regime. Section II turns to Lugo's dramatic rise to the presidency, new negotiations with Brazil, and promises to fight corruption by instituting "transparency." Section III offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the patronage, rent-seeking, and networks of obligation that surround the dam. Section IV explores how the political economy of energy in the Southern Cone is recrafted under "energy integration" as well as the debates within Paraguay about how Itaipu's millions should be invested socially.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
2009_2013.csv
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Anthropology
