The Mero Ikojts and the Wind. Indigenous Perspectives on Renewable Energy in Mexico

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Eveline Dürr
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: from 2016 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 310038888

In the context of scarcity of fossil resources and rising energy use worldwide, the exploitation of renewable energy resources has become the focus of attention from both the public and private sectors. This development affects also indigenous communities when renewable energies are exploited by the use of large-scale technical projects on their territories. However, so far, only little is known about the relationship between indigeneity and renewable energy. This research project scrutinises cultural specific, indigenous perceptions of 'wind' and 'renewable energy' and their characteristics in the context of an enormous wind park project located at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. Three research fields are at centre stage: the relationships between wind, identity, and economy; the becoming of indigeneity; and the actors' diverse ontological conceptualisations of energy. The aim of this research is to shed a new light on the - often - conflictive interactions between actors with diverse interest of resource use and to deliver new insights on worldview specific concepts of renewable energy. In the context of a conflictive situation, the specific ontologies become overtly manifest. The aim of this project is also to advance our understanding of complex and constantly changing relationships between humans, nature, knowledge and technologies in the field of renewable energies. It will do so by analysing concrete constellations as assemblage. Further, by acknowledging the existence of multiple ontologies, this project challenges notions of 'modernity' as correct and hegemonic. The perspective of this study will reveal nuances in the relationships between indigenous groups, transnational businesses and the state that reflect divergent perceptions of nature.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants