Reckoning with Harm: The Toxic Relations of Oil in Amazonia

Reckoning with Harm is a powerful ethnographic study that demonstrates the need for a relational, place-based, and contingent understanding of harm and toxicity in the Ecuadorian Amazon. It explores the ways in which harm from oil extraction is entangled with daily life and the tensions surrounding efforts to verify and redress it. Fiske argues that harm is both a relationship and an animating feature of relationships in this place and that a contingent understanding is needed to contemplate what comes next when living in a toxic world.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 31 October 2023
Publisher: University of Texas Press

Reckoning with Harm is a powerful ethnographic study that delves into the harmful consequences of oil extraction in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Spanning fifty years of settler colonization and industrialization, Amelia Fiske examines the intricate relationships between harm and toxicity. Through her exploration of forest-courtrooms, oily waste pits, farms, and toxic tours, Fiske uncovers the ways in which harm from oil is deeply intertwined with the daily lives of the people in the region. She also highlights the tensions surrounding efforts to verify and redress harm in practice.

Attempts to address harm from the oil industry in Ecuador have often been hindered by narrow, technocratic understandings of evidence, toxicity, and responsibility. Fiske builds on the work of her collaborators to challenge the state and oil companies' assertion that harm is primarily controlled and chemical in nature. She argues that harm must be reframed as relational to account for the unremediated contamination of the past and to advocate for broad forms of accountability in the present.

Fiske theorizes that harm is not just a static concept but a dynamic relationship that permeates relationships in the Amazon. She suggests that harm is a contingent understanding that is necessary to navigate the complexities of living in a toxic world. By recognizing the relational nature of harm, Fiske opens up possibilities for contemplating what comes next in the face of ongoing environmental degradation and social injustice.

In conclusion, Reckoning with Harm is a groundbreaking ethnographic analysis that sheds light on the harmful consequences of oil extraction in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Through her meticulous research and thoughtful analysis, Fiske challenges the dominant narratives and offers a more nuanced understanding of harm. Her work contributes to our understanding of the complex relationships between humans, the environment, and the politics of toxicity.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781477327784