Beyond Extraction: A Relational Approach to Exploitation, Governance, and Systemic Transformation in Global Extraction Frontiers

Descrizione del progetto

L’analisi relazionale traccia un quadro dello sfruttamento attraverso le frontiere dell’Amazzonia e del Congo

Lo sfruttamento nelle frontiere dell’Amazzonia e del Congo persiste di generazione in generazione, sostenuto da forze economiche, storiche e istituzionali che raramente vengono esaminate nel loro insieme. Con il sostegno del programma di azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, il progetto Beyond Extraction intende sviluppare un quadro relazionale che colleghi le origini storiche, l’esperienza vissuta, i flussi finanziari e le strutture giuridico-discorsive che legittimano il danno. Avvalendosi di ricerche d’archivio, etnografia, analisi della governance e tracciamento della catena di approvvigionamento in due regioni di confine a tre frontiere, il progetto lavorerà alla realizzazione di un atlante relazionale a libero accesso sullo sfruttamento e di un kit di strumenti politici (anche per le comunità) progettato in collaborazione con partner indigeni e della società civile. I risultati contribuiranno ai dibattiti sulla due diligence e sulla responsabilità all’interno delle istituzioni dell’UE e delle Nazioni Unite.

Obiettivo

Beyond Extraction investigates how exploitation in the Amazon and Congo frontiers is produced, legitimised, and endured across time and scale. Moving beyond economic-only views, the project develops a relational analytics that links historical genealogies, lived experiences, material/financial circuits, and discursive–institutional architectures. Comparative work in two tri-border regions underpins two flagship outputs: a Relational Atlas of Exploitation—an open-access, network-based resource making patterns of harm and accountability legible—and a cross-regional policy and practice package (synthesis brief plus community-oriented toolkit).
Five objectives structure the research: 1) reconstruct the historical, structural conditions that make exploitation durable; 2) ground these genealogies in lived and intergenerational experiences; 3) map material and financial circuits that connect situated harms to distant beneficiaries; 4) analyse the discursive and legal mechanisms that normalise or contest harm; and 5) identify leverage points for justice-oriented governance transformation.
Methodologically, the project integrates archival and documentary research, ethnography and oral histories, governance and legal analysis, supply-chain/ownership tracing, and comparative synthesis. Iterative integration combines qualitative insight with structured mapping and networked representations. Partnerships with Indigenous federations, civil society, and IGOs ensure FPIC, GDPR-aligned data protection, and co-production protocols; open-science practices guide the dissemination of non-sensitive outputs.
Impact pathways span science, society, and policy. Scientific contributions include a comparative, cross-continental framework and two open-access publications. Societal impacts centre community agency through the toolkit and accessible storytelling. Policy impacts include a multilingual synthesis brief and the Atlas to support due diligence and accountability debates in EU/UN fora.