Perspectives on Life in Society 2024–2025, Ep. 4 – Extractivism in Sacrificed Zones in the Global South

Low-income countries are often subjected to large-scale resource extraction that began during the colonial era and has continued ever since. This resource extraction has devastating consequences that often irreversibly transform these regions, creating what are known as “sacrifice zones,” where life is possible only under extremely degraded conditions. 

While numerous protests and scientific studies highlight the health, environmental (as well as social, economic, and political) harms caused by this form of extractivism, many economic and political actors employ complex strategies that create uncertainty and ignorance about these harms in an effort to conceal them. It is these mechanisms that we will analyze and examine, drawing on examples of agricultural and mining extractivism in South America and Africa.