With the recent construction of Colby Green and the current plans for the construction of several... more With the recent construction of Colby Green and the current plans for the construction of several new buildings, the total area for future development on campus has declined. The goal of this study was to illustrate existing campus development and to ...
This thesis research began in the fall; around the same time President Adams predicted that the s... more This thesis research began in the fall; around the same time President Adams predicted that the school would pay one million dollars more than budgeted this academic year on energy due to the rising energy prices (Adams, pers. comm.). Students, their families, and the college ...
In this report, we reflect on the 2-day thinkshop 'Figuring disasters: methodological speculation... more In this report, we reflect on the 2-day thinkshop 'Figuring disasters: methodological speculations in exorbitant worlds' held in Valparaíso, Chile. The thinkshop aimed at discussing the possibility of inventing new genres for the figuration, representation and visualisation of distributed and processual geoclimatic disruptions. For this report, we assembled a choral essay in which each one of the participants selected one object of our visit to Messana-an informal settlement in the outskirts of Valparaíso that was severely damaged by the 2017 firesand knit around, from and with it a reflection on the thinkshop and its questions. The report is thus fractionary. We do not look for wholes, perhaps as disasters themselves problematise linear narratives. We prefer to be attentive to what each one of us inherited from Messana and to stage that sensibility in a multiplicity, though adventures into what disasters as methods can and should be.
The transition to renewable energy technologies raises new and important governance questions. Wi... more The transition to renewable energy technologies raises new and important governance questions. With small hydropower (SHP) expanding as part of renewable energy and climate mitigation strategies, this review assesses its impacts and identifies escalating policy issues. To provide a comprehensive literature review of small hydropower, we evaluated over 3600 articles and policy documents. This review identified four major concerns: (1) confusion in small hydropower definitions is convoluting scholarship and policy-making; (2) there is a lack of knowledge and acknowledgement of small hydropower's social, environmental, and cumulative impacts; (3) small hydropower's promotion as a climate mitigation strategy can negatively affect local communities, posing contradictions for climate change policy; and (4) institutional analysis is needed to facilitate renewable energy integration with existing environmental laws to ensure sustainable energy development. For readers interested in small hydropower, we clarify areas of confusion in definition and explain the corresponding impacts for distinct system designs. For a broader readership, we situate small hydropower implementation within international trends of renewable energy developmentthe contradictory impacts of climate change policy, emerging dynamics in energy finance, and reliance on market mechanisms. Our paper provides a timely contribution to scholarship on small hydropower and the transition to renewable energy.
This article contributes to the urban political ecology of water through applied anthropological ... more This article contributes to the urban political ecology of water through applied anthropological research methods and praxis. Drawing on two case studies in urban Sonora, Mexico, we contribute to critical studies of infrastructure by focusing on large infrastructural systems and decentralized alternatives to water and sanitation provisioning. We reflect on engaging with residents living on the marginal hillsides of two rapidly urbanizing desert cities using ethnographic methods. In the capital city of Hermosillo, Radonic emphasizes how collaborative reflection with barrio residents led her to reframe her analytical approach to water governance by recognizing informal water infrastructure as a statement of human resilience in the face of social inequality, resource scarcity, and material disrepair. In the border city of Nogales, Kelly-Richards reflects on the outcomes of conducting community-based participatory research with technical students and residents of an informally settled c...
En este artículo examinamos el reconocimiento de derechos indígenas en dos casos de estudio duran... more En este artículo examinamos el reconocimiento de derechos indígenas en dos casos de estudio durante el desarrollo de proyectos de energía hidroeléctrica, los cuales ilustran distintos momentos en la implementación del Consentimiento Libre, Previo e Informado (CLPI) en Chile, en el marco de la ratificación del Convenio 169 de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo en 2008. Si bien los casos muestran, al menos, victorias parciales en términos legales, sugerimos que la implementación del consentimiento informado en Chile resulta en una geografía legal de fragmentación en territorio Mapuche. En los dos casos, vemos que esta geografía legal opera a través de dos estrategias llevadas a cabo por los consultores privados involucrados en el desarrollo de los proyectos hidroeléctricos. Primero, en la manera como definen el área de afectación directa reducida en el marco del sistema de evaluación ambiental. Y segundo, en la mantención de negociaciones privadas y directas con determinadas comunidades. En el primer caso, los consultores interpretan la legislación ambiental de una forma limitada. Mientras que, en el último caso, crean sus propias estrategias en un contexto de incertidumbre legal y, paradójicamente, allí amplifican el territorio afectado para efectos de negociar. En general, crean las condiciones para que los derechos indígenas sean negociados, dando lugar a una forma mercantilizada del consentimiento informado. En esta brecha entre la codificación de derechos internacionales indígenas y la implementación de la ley en la práctica, la fragmentación social afecta profundamente a las costumbres Mapuche, la autoridad de los líderes ancestrales, la cohesión social y la práctica de ceremonias. Debido a la fragmentación social de esta geografía legal del consentimiento indígena, creemos necesario regular estas negociaciones.
In this article we examine the recognition of Indigenous rights in two case studies with hydroelectric development. These cases demonstrate two moments in the implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in Chile, which is regulated by the International Labour Organization's Convention 169 treaty ratified in 2008. While the cases demonstrate at least partial victories in legal terms, we suggest that the implementation of informed consent in Chile results in a legal geography of fragmentation in Mapuche territory. In both cases, we find that this legal geography operates through two strategies employed by private consultancy groups involved in the development of hydropower. First, by how they define and spatially reduce the concept of "direct affected area", which is regulated by the system for evaluating environmental impacts. Second, in how they maintain direct and private negotiations with certain communities. In the first case, consultors interpret the environmental legislation in a limited way. While in the second case, they create their own strategies in a context of legal uncertainty, and paradoxically, they increase the area of affected territory for the purposes of negotiation. Broadly, these actions create the conditions for Indigenous rights to be negotiated, leading to the marketization of informed consent. In this gap between the codification of international Indigenous rights and the implementation of law in practice, social fragmentation profoundly affects Mapuche customs, authority of traditional leaders, social cohesion, and the practice of ceremonies. Considering the social fragmentation provoked by this legal geography of Indigenous consent, we conclude it is necessary to regulate these negotiations.
With the recent construction of Colby Green and the current plans for the construction of several... more With the recent construction of Colby Green and the current plans for the construction of several new buildings, the total area for future development on campus has declined. The goal of this study was to illustrate existing campus development and to ...
This thesis research began in the fall; around the same time President Adams predicted that the s... more This thesis research began in the fall; around the same time President Adams predicted that the school would pay one million dollars more than budgeted this academic year on energy due to the rising energy prices (Adams, pers. comm.). Students, their families, and the college ...
In this report, we reflect on the 2-day thinkshop 'Figuring disasters: methodological speculation... more In this report, we reflect on the 2-day thinkshop 'Figuring disasters: methodological speculations in exorbitant worlds' held in Valparaíso, Chile. The thinkshop aimed at discussing the possibility of inventing new genres for the figuration, representation and visualisation of distributed and processual geoclimatic disruptions. For this report, we assembled a choral essay in which each one of the participants selected one object of our visit to Messana-an informal settlement in the outskirts of Valparaíso that was severely damaged by the 2017 firesand knit around, from and with it a reflection on the thinkshop and its questions. The report is thus fractionary. We do not look for wholes, perhaps as disasters themselves problematise linear narratives. We prefer to be attentive to what each one of us inherited from Messana and to stage that sensibility in a multiplicity, though adventures into what disasters as methods can and should be.
The transition to renewable energy technologies raises new and important governance questions. Wi... more The transition to renewable energy technologies raises new and important governance questions. With small hydropower (SHP) expanding as part of renewable energy and climate mitigation strategies, this review assesses its impacts and identifies escalating policy issues. To provide a comprehensive literature review of small hydropower, we evaluated over 3600 articles and policy documents. This review identified four major concerns: (1) confusion in small hydropower definitions is convoluting scholarship and policy-making; (2) there is a lack of knowledge and acknowledgement of small hydropower's social, environmental, and cumulative impacts; (3) small hydropower's promotion as a climate mitigation strategy can negatively affect local communities, posing contradictions for climate change policy; and (4) institutional analysis is needed to facilitate renewable energy integration with existing environmental laws to ensure sustainable energy development. For readers interested in small hydropower, we clarify areas of confusion in definition and explain the corresponding impacts for distinct system designs. For a broader readership, we situate small hydropower implementation within international trends of renewable energy developmentthe contradictory impacts of climate change policy, emerging dynamics in energy finance, and reliance on market mechanisms. Our paper provides a timely contribution to scholarship on small hydropower and the transition to renewable energy.
This article contributes to the urban political ecology of water through applied anthropological ... more This article contributes to the urban political ecology of water through applied anthropological research methods and praxis. Drawing on two case studies in urban Sonora, Mexico, we contribute to critical studies of infrastructure by focusing on large infrastructural systems and decentralized alternatives to water and sanitation provisioning. We reflect on engaging with residents living on the marginal hillsides of two rapidly urbanizing desert cities using ethnographic methods. In the capital city of Hermosillo, Radonic emphasizes how collaborative reflection with barrio residents led her to reframe her analytical approach to water governance by recognizing informal water infrastructure as a statement of human resilience in the face of social inequality, resource scarcity, and material disrepair. In the border city of Nogales, Kelly-Richards reflects on the outcomes of conducting community-based participatory research with technical students and residents of an informally settled c...
En este artículo examinamos el reconocimiento de derechos indígenas en dos casos de estudio duran... more En este artículo examinamos el reconocimiento de derechos indígenas en dos casos de estudio durante el desarrollo de proyectos de energía hidroeléctrica, los cuales ilustran distintos momentos en la implementación del Consentimiento Libre, Previo e Informado (CLPI) en Chile, en el marco de la ratificación del Convenio 169 de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo en 2008. Si bien los casos muestran, al menos, victorias parciales en términos legales, sugerimos que la implementación del consentimiento informado en Chile resulta en una geografía legal de fragmentación en territorio Mapuche. En los dos casos, vemos que esta geografía legal opera a través de dos estrategias llevadas a cabo por los consultores privados involucrados en el desarrollo de los proyectos hidroeléctricos. Primero, en la manera como definen el área de afectación directa reducida en el marco del sistema de evaluación ambiental. Y segundo, en la mantención de negociaciones privadas y directas con determinadas comunidades. En el primer caso, los consultores interpretan la legislación ambiental de una forma limitada. Mientras que, en el último caso, crean sus propias estrategias en un contexto de incertidumbre legal y, paradójicamente, allí amplifican el territorio afectado para efectos de negociar. En general, crean las condiciones para que los derechos indígenas sean negociados, dando lugar a una forma mercantilizada del consentimiento informado. En esta brecha entre la codificación de derechos internacionales indígenas y la implementación de la ley en la práctica, la fragmentación social afecta profundamente a las costumbres Mapuche, la autoridad de los líderes ancestrales, la cohesión social y la práctica de ceremonias. Debido a la fragmentación social de esta geografía legal del consentimiento indígena, creemos necesario regular estas negociaciones.
In this article we examine the recognition of Indigenous rights in two case studies with hydroelectric development. These cases demonstrate two moments in the implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in Chile, which is regulated by the International Labour Organization's Convention 169 treaty ratified in 2008. While the cases demonstrate at least partial victories in legal terms, we suggest that the implementation of informed consent in Chile results in a legal geography of fragmentation in Mapuche territory. In both cases, we find that this legal geography operates through two strategies employed by private consultancy groups involved in the development of hydropower. First, by how they define and spatially reduce the concept of "direct affected area", which is regulated by the system for evaluating environmental impacts. Second, in how they maintain direct and private negotiations with certain communities. In the first case, consultors interpret the environmental legislation in a limited way. While in the second case, they create their own strategies in a context of legal uncertainty, and paradoxically, they increase the area of affected territory for the purposes of negotiation. Broadly, these actions create the conditions for Indigenous rights to be negotiated, leading to the marketization of informed consent. In this gap between the codification of international Indigenous rights and the implementation of law in practice, social fragmentation profoundly affects Mapuche customs, authority of traditional leaders, social cohesion, and the practice of ceremonies. Considering the social fragmentation provoked by this legal geography of Indigenous consent, we conclude it is necessary to regulate these negotiations.
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Papers by Sarah Kelly
In this article we examine the recognition of Indigenous rights in two case studies with hydroelectric development. These cases demonstrate two moments in the implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in Chile, which is regulated by the International Labour Organization's Convention 169 treaty ratified in 2008. While the cases demonstrate at least partial victories in legal terms, we suggest that the implementation of informed consent in Chile results in a legal geography of fragmentation in Mapuche territory. In both cases, we find that this legal geography operates through two strategies employed by private consultancy groups involved in the development of hydropower. First, by how they define and spatially reduce the concept of "direct affected area", which is regulated by the system for evaluating environmental impacts. Second, in how they maintain direct and private negotiations with certain communities. In the first case, consultors interpret the environmental legislation in a limited way. While in the second case, they create their own strategies in a context of legal uncertainty, and paradoxically, they increase the area of affected territory for the purposes of negotiation. Broadly, these actions create the conditions for Indigenous rights to be negotiated, leading to the marketization of informed consent. In this gap between the codification of international Indigenous rights and the implementation of law in practice, social fragmentation profoundly affects Mapuche customs, authority of traditional leaders, social cohesion, and the practice of ceremonies. Considering the social fragmentation provoked by this legal geography of Indigenous consent, we conclude it is necessary to regulate these negotiations.
In this article we examine the recognition of Indigenous rights in two case studies with hydroelectric development. These cases demonstrate two moments in the implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in Chile, which is regulated by the International Labour Organization's Convention 169 treaty ratified in 2008. While the cases demonstrate at least partial victories in legal terms, we suggest that the implementation of informed consent in Chile results in a legal geography of fragmentation in Mapuche territory. In both cases, we find that this legal geography operates through two strategies employed by private consultancy groups involved in the development of hydropower. First, by how they define and spatially reduce the concept of "direct affected area", which is regulated by the system for evaluating environmental impacts. Second, in how they maintain direct and private negotiations with certain communities. In the first case, consultors interpret the environmental legislation in a limited way. While in the second case, they create their own strategies in a context of legal uncertainty, and paradoxically, they increase the area of affected territory for the purposes of negotiation. Broadly, these actions create the conditions for Indigenous rights to be negotiated, leading to the marketization of informed consent. In this gap between the codification of international Indigenous rights and the implementation of law in practice, social fragmentation profoundly affects Mapuche customs, authority of traditional leaders, social cohesion, and the practice of ceremonies. Considering the social fragmentation provoked by this legal geography of Indigenous consent, we conclude it is necessary to regulate these negotiations.