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Alexander Zaitchik Lecture: Chinese Avatar in the Amazon

Friday, March 1, 2013 at 12:20pm to 2:00pm

Milstein Hall, Abby and Howard Milstein Auditorium
943 University Ave, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA

Zaitchik’s talk will explore China's growing extractive investments in Latin America and what they mean for the survival of indigenous groups as well as the stakes for local environments and the wider Amazonian ecosystem. The southeastern corner of Ecuador is home to one of the most important ecological hotspots and watersheds in the Neotropics — the Cordillera del Condor. The sub-Andean mountain range is also the stage for one of the most dramatic land-use conflicts in Latin America, in which the native Shuar are resisting the early stages of a massive Chinese-owned copper and gold mine called Mirador, scheduled to begin production later this decade. The government of Rafael Correamine considers the mine a strategic priority and has begun militarizing the area amidst rising tensions. As a result, China's relatively recent arrival as a player in Latin America's resource scramble and mining boom is on course to result in explosive conflict and bloodshed. Zaitchik will explore how the outline of the story is in several key respects redolent of the James Cameron film "Avatar."

Cosponsored by City and Regional Planning, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning and the American Indian Program.

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Event Type

Lecture

Departments

Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, City and Regional Planning, Sustainability

Tags

hum, aap, myC

Website

http://aap.cornell.edu/events/events_...

Contact E-Mail

gl328@cornell.edu

Contact Name

Gar-Yin Lee

Contact Phone

(607) 255-9987

Speaker

Alexander Zaitchik

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