ABSTRACT
In July 2011, I was travelling in the Andes of southern Peru. My journey started in Moquegua, an inland provincial town in the Andean foothills, at about 1,300 metres above sea level. Accompanied by one of my local research assistants, Lilia, we left at dawn and drove up mainly unpaved roads in our hired four-wheel-drive vehicle, observing the changing scenery during the bumpy ride. As we ascended, the landscape around us was hilly and completely arid; the slopes consisted of dry dirt speckled with large cacti. By the time we reached our first field site – the village of Borogueña at about 2,700 metres above sea level – the parched surroundings were punctuated with steeply sloped and bright green agricultural terraces (Figure 12.1), where the local Aymara people grow maize and potatoes, as well as alfalfa for their livestock. The village itself had a brand new town square, courtesy of the municipality’s share of the taxes that mining companies now have to pay to the Peruvian state. Here, we spoke to the community leader, who lamented not only the increasingly short supply of water entering the village’s irrigation channels, which had recently been lined with concrete to avoid water loss (also paid for with the new mining revenue), but also the increasing number of villagers – particularly women – who had stopped tending their terraces in order to take up paid work for the newly enriched municipality.
