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Mining, Urban Growth, and Agrarian Changes in the Atacama Desert: The Case of the Calama Oasis in Northern Chile

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Listed:
  • Matías Calderón-Seguel

    (Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geográficas, Facultad de Educación y Humanidades, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica 1010069, Chile)

  • Manuel Prieto

    (Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geográficas, Facultad de Educación y Humanidades, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica 1010069, Chile)

  • Oliver Meseguer-Ruiz

    (Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geográficas, Facultad de Educación y Humanidades, Universidad de Tarapacá, Iquique 1101783, Chile)

  • Freddy Viñales

    (Instituto de Arqueología y Antropología, Universidad Católica del Norte, San Pedro de Atacama 1410000, Chile)

  • Paulina Hidalgo

    (Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Ñuñoa 7800284, Chile)

  • Elías Esper

    (Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales y Economía, Santiago 8330370, Chile)

Abstract

Since the mid-twentieth century, Latin American rural territories have undergone significant transformations. One of the leading causes is the expansion of large-scale operations that exploit natural resources for world market exportation with low processing. In this paper, we study the changes in agricultural activities, livestock, and land use in the Calama oasis (the Atacama Desert, northern Chile) in relation to the growth of large-scale copper mining and other chained processes (urbanization and increased demand for water resources); based on a mixed methodology combining descriptive statistics, archival and bibliographic review, ethnography, and spatial analysis. We present the results through a historical reconstruction of the analyzed dimensions and their relationships, accounting for contradictory dynamics in time and space. We identify how mining and urban growth promote some agricultural and livestock activities under certain economic and political conditions, while in other contexts, these activities have been severely weakened, seeing increasing urbanization of rural land, rural-urban pluriactivity, and a growing deagrarianization.

Suggested Citation

  • Matías Calderón-Seguel & Manuel Prieto & Oliver Meseguer-Ruiz & Freddy Viñales & Paulina Hidalgo & Elías Esper, 2021. "Mining, Urban Growth, and Agrarian Changes in the Atacama Desert: The Case of the Calama Oasis in Northern Chile," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:11:p:1262-:d:682851
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Lena Hommes & Rutgerd Boelens & Leila M. Harris & Gert Jan Veldwisch, 2019. "Rural–urban water struggles: urbanizing hydrosocial territories and evolving connections, discourses and identities," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(2), pages 81-94, February.
    3. Hans-Jürgen Burchardt & Kristina Dietz, 2014. "(Neo-)extractivism – a new challenge for development theory from Latin America," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 468-486, March.
    4. Bebbington, Anthony & Humphreys Bebbington, Denise & Bury, Jeffrey & Lingan, Jeannet & Muñoz, Juan Pablo & Scurrah, Martin, 2008. "Mining and Social Movements: Struggles Over Livelihood and Rural Territorial Development in the Andes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2888-2905, December.
    5. Pablo Sarricolea & Mariajosé Herrera-Ossandon & Óliver Meseguer-Ruiz, 2017. "Climatic regionalisation of continental Chile," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 66-73, November.
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