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A pretext for plunder? Environmental change and state‐led redevelopment in the Peruvian Amazon
Author(s) -
Kawa Nicholas C.,
Ulmer Gordon L.,
Silverstein Sydney M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
anthropology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-8322
pISSN - 0268-540X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8322.12420
Subject(s) - downtown , government (linguistics) , redevelopment , neighbourhood (mathematics) , state (computer science) , politics , geography , political science , decree , public administration , economic growth , law , archaeology , economics , mathematical analysis , philosophy , linguistics , mathematics , algorithm , computer science
In 2014, the Peruvian federal government declared the low‐income neighbourhood of Pueblo Libre de Belén in the Amazonian city of Iquitos to be in a state of emergency. A federal decree stated that ‘constant inundation’ from the Itaya River had put residents and their homes in jeopardy. Following this declaration, the federal government proposed to resettle residents in a planned community, 13 km outside the city. Drawing from interviews with 77 households in the neighbourhood, this article examines residents' responses to the relocation plan as well as their deep scepticism over the motivations driving it. Considering the state's plans for redeveloping the area as a tourist zone, this case study illustrates how concerns about the future impacts of environmental change – and flooding specifically – can be exploited by state actors for economic and political gain while further disenfranchising vulnerable urban populations.