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dc.contributor.authorHelmcke, Cornelia
dc.date.accessioned2023-03-31T15:30:11Z
dc.date.available2023-03-31T15:30:11Z
dc.date.issued2023-08-01
dc.identifier283848315
dc.identifier398f66bb-dd17-4777-9b7f-6506533a005b
dc.identifier85152534997
dc.identifier.citationHelmcke , C 2023 , ' Technology of detachment : the promise of renewable energy and its contentious reality in the South of Colombia ' , Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space , vol. 41 , no. 5 , pp. 976-992 . https://doi.org/10.1177/23996544231168390en
dc.identifier.issn2399-6544
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/27314
dc.description.abstractTaking infrastructure as the means to control space, this paper analyses the large-scale hydroelectric dam project “El Quimbo” in Huila, South Colombia, and the environmental conflict it caused. The paper argues that instead of acting as a “technology of engagement” that extends vital infrastructure into marginalised territory, the dam functioned as a “technology of detachment” that destroyed the social and physical infrastructure in place, fragmented territory and marginalised affected populations further. While localised marginalisation can be considered an unintentional side-effect of a project, which otherwise serves the “greater good”, critical conceptualisations of the capitalist state see purpose behind these impacts. Governments use infrastructural objects as tools for social engineering, subjugating their population to control and discipline in line with their biopolitical project. The paper analyses how far this subjugation was visible in the El Quimbo dam case, and critically reflects on the promises of renewable energy. It brings novel insights to the infrastructure citizenship debate by highlighting that infrastructure can act as intermediary between state and citizens but, in the same way, can hamper citizenship formation.
dc.format.extent17
dc.format.extent608740
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofEnvironment and Planning C: Politics and Spaceen
dc.subjectColombiaen
dc.subjectEnergy justiceen
dc.subjectHydroelectricityen
dc.subjectInfrastructureen
dc.subjectRenewable energyen
dc.subject3rd-DASen
dc.subjectSDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energyen
dc.subjectMCCen
dc.titleTechnology of detachment : the promise of renewable energy and its contentious reality in the South of Colombiaen
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Centre for Energy Ethicsen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Geography & Sustainable Developmenten
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1177/23996544231168390
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden


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