PhD defence N. (Nina) Swen

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation: 

This thesis analyses how Indigenous communities in the northern Peruvian Amazon monitor oil spills and engage with regulatory science to render oil-related contamination legible. It explores the possibilities that this engagement and epistemic encounter might afford for Indigenous demands for accountability and repair, considering the complex dependencies generated by extractivism and contamination. The analysis is informed by extended ethnographic research with Quechua, Kichwa, Achuar, and Cocama Indigenous federations, whose territories have been affected by five decades of oil extraction. In response to the lack of transparency from oil companies, reinforced by Peru's environmental regulatory framework, Indigenous federations created their own monitoring programme that integrates territorial knowledge with digital technologies, including smartphones, GPS devices, and drones. Since 2010, Indigenous monitors have documented hundreds of previously unreported contaminated sites and continue to detect new oil spills weekly. However, Indigenous monitoring takes place in a context of ongoing extractive and colonial violence, in which state regulation of extractive industries is deeply implicated.