The temporalities of natural resources extraction: Imagined futures and the spatialization of the lithium industry in Chile

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datacite.alternateIdentifier.citationEXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES AND SOCIETY,Vol.15,2023
datacite.alternateIdentifier.doi10.1016/j.exis.2023.101310
datacite.creatorCarrasco, Sebastian
datacite.creatorHernandez, Javier
datacite.creatorCariaga, Valentina
datacite.date2023
datacite.subject.englishLithium temporalities
datacite.subject.englishFictional expectations
datacite.subject.englishSpacialization
datacite.subject.englishGlobal value chains
datacite.subject.englishChile
datacite.titleThe temporalities of natural resources extraction: Imagined futures and the spatialization of the lithium industry in Chile
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-27T18:26:06Z
dc.date.available2024-05-27T18:26:06Z
dc.description.abstractLithium is expected to be a key resource for the upcoming economy, mainly for its linkage to green energies. A substantial amount of its production occurs in developing countries, promising positive outcomes for local and global actors. Based on the 'Imagined Futures' framework developed by German Sociologist Jens Beckert (2016), this article aims at examining the role of fictional expectations in local, national, and global processes of spatialization regarding lithium production, extraction, and commercialization. In particular, this article based on the case of Chile asks how fictional expectations constructed around the lithium industry explain decisive and conflictual dynamics within different spatial scales in the context of the global production networks and value chains of this industry. We argue that analyzing fictional expectations allows us to understand these dynamics. At the same time, the case of the lithium industry in Chile provides an opportunity to explore the role of territories and spatialization when studying fictional expectations. To do so, the paper draws on extensive empirical evidence from interviews with 30 key actors linked to the lithium industry. The main results show how fictional expectations and imaginaries about the future economy produce tensions and conflicts at the local level, at the time that pressure actors to make decisions in the present based on images about a future. Global value chains, economic forecasts, and political demands for greener technologies also provide narratives and imaginaries, feeding contesting interests, positions, and views about potential benefits and consequences of lithium extraction, tensioning the different scales of decision-making.
dc.identifier.urihttps://repositoriodigital.uct.cl/handle/10925/5666
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherELSEVIER SCI LTD
dc.sourceEXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES AND SOCIETY
oaire.resourceTypeArticle
uct.indizacionSSCI
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