Extractivism

The concept of extractivism, which originated in political ecology and decolonial studies, refers to a model of development based on the large-scale and intensive extraction of natural resources, often exported with minimal processing. For its proponents, extractivism is seen as inevitable and linked to the world’s growing demand for raw materials.

Critics, however, emphasize its major socio-economic impacts, such as the forced displacement of entire communities and severe environmental degradation in a context of asymmetrical globalization. Nevertheless, numerous ethnographic studies highlight the importance of clarifying this all-encompassing concept, to better understand the contradictions and heterogeneous dynamics of extractivism at the local level.