{"id":43,"date":"2024-11-13T20:30:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T20:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/ant252-f24\/?page_id=43"},"modified":"2024-12-13T17:08:56","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T17:08:56","slug":"project-9","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/ant252-f24\/projects\/project-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Calvin"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the essential binaries of the \u201cwestern onto-epistemic worldview\u201d described by Escobar places: \u201cman on the highest rung of the ladder\u201d with everything else in the category of \u201cnature\u201d falling beneath (81.) This worldview has the effect of the \u201csubordination of spirituality and the awareness of the unity of all that exists to the materialism of commodities, of being to possessing.\u201d By separating \u201chumans\u201d from \u201cnature,\u201d societies holding this worldview subjugate nature in pursuit of commodities, and also subjugate other societies that hold different understandings of nature, justified by their \u201cunproductive\u201d relationships with nonhuman entities (De la Cadena, 344.) The enactment of this worldview can clearly be seen in the development of extractive industry, particularly the mining of precious metals, transforming a tangible piece of nature into the most basic form of commodity. Gold is no longer merely a metal found in a riverbed, instead becoming a symbol representative of an infinite number of other commodities that can be bought and sold in the market economy (Escobar, 81.) Mining directly reinforces the neoliberal imaginary which asserts \u201cunfettered production of commodities\u201d and \u201cunlimited growth\u201d to be necessary, establishing belief in the economy to be more real than the very visible harm it causes to the world around it (90.) Mining is hugely environmentally destructive, often polluting waterways and damaging forests (Beckham A, 45:40.) A tremendous amount of economic value is present in a mining tract, and to access this value, the tradeoffs fall significantly onto nature and humans who rely on strong relationships with nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spice investigates the differences between \u201ccritical infrastructure\u201d beneficial to the state, which includes extractive industry, energy infrastructure, as well as oil pipelines, and critical infrastructure for indigenous peoples who rely on their relations to the land more directly. The state holds the ability to define what is critical infrastructure and what is not, with infrastructure commonly serving as a physical representation of western enlightenment ideas of modernity and progress as well as vehicles of land theft and displacement, while subsuming other possible nonwestern relationships with nature (42.) Thus, infrastructure is not only environmentally destructive, it is ontologically destructive, literally making other ways of being impossible. To illustrate this destructive process, I have edited clips from <\/span>Rhino War, Disappearing World: The Kayapo<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Kayapo – Out of The Forest<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>First Contact<\/span><\/i> in the style of montage to create an instance of Spice\u2019s \u201cinvasive infrastructure\u201d (a gold mine) coming into conflict with indigenous existence (the Kayapo). I have elected to render visible the ontological dualisms which literally elevate man above nature through the metaphor of aircraft, as well as highlight the relationships between Kayapo society and nature through selected narration and dialogue. This depiction can be found in the first video version.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n