Bodies, Grasslands, and Interspecies Relations in the Struggle against Smelter Pollution, 1912–30

This paper examines struggles over smelter pollution in the central highlands of Peru in the early twentieth century. After the U.S.-owned Cerro de Pasco Mining Company built a smelter in the Mantaro Valley in 1922, a series of conflicts unfolded between Indigenous communities, large-estate landowners, and mining companies. These struggles have been typically understood as conflicts over land – land being an economic category anchored in the state-sanctioned institution of private property. This paper, by contrast, draws from the framework of political ecology and emphasizes the importance of natural pastures, grass rentals, and the practice of informal herding to understand the ecological disruptions caused by smelter smoke. It argues that, rather than arguing over property rights, the Indigenous communities in the valley sought to restore the vitality of grasslands and animals and reconstitute the ecological practices that defined community life in the region.