Oro blanco: assembling extractivism in the lithium triangle

As the drive for global electrification proceeds apace to wean the world off fossil fuels in order to address the climate emergency, new pressures are placed on agrarian environments and peoples in areas abundant in key minerals for electric batteries. The so-called Lithium triangle between Chile, Argentina and Bolivia is one of those places. We develop an account of the ‘assemblages of extractivism’ at work in this zone that operate at a material, institutional and discursive level. It draws on fieldwork from the region and is conceptualised using different strands of political ecology and political economy to understand how the construction of a commodity, the materiality of lithium and the role of the state intersect with and negotiate diverse local understandings and engagements with this latest form of ‘renewable extractivism’.