El gran apagón : techno-politiques, crises et infrastructures dans le secteur de l’énergie électrique en Colombie (1940-2000)
In Colombia, the predominance of hydropower over other sources of energy have generally been explained by the notion of water abundance in the territory and therefore because of the rentability of its production. Nevertheless, this research aims to question these given ideas. I argue that it is necessary to explore the political and relational nature of this resource to understand its importance in the national electric sector. To do so, I explore the causes and effects of the 1992 energetic crisis, well-know as El gran apagón (The Great Blackout). I put into evidence how this crisis happened to be instrumentalized to negotiate the techno-politics and infrastructures that shape the electric sector system. More precisely, in the processes of implementation of neoliberal politics and in the legitimization of the construction of new dams. In this case, Porce II dam situated in the department of Antioquia. The main goal of this study is to reveal how crisis and scarcity discourses (as much as abundance discourses) of hydroelectricity allowed its proliferation, and thus, massive transformations of several territories in the country. Discussing at the same time how these discourses aren’t neutral nor static through space and time. From political ecology and Science and technology studies perspectives, I pay attention on the effects of expert discourses and representations of hydropower and water to see how they have shaped the electric sector in the period between 1940 and 2000. The crisis of El grand Apagón proves to be interesting as it allows to put into light how these representations, but also practices and the governance are contested and negotiated in this context. In the historical trajectory of hydropower in Colombia, this research seeks to explore how infrastructures are not only legitimated by contradictory promises of development and progress, but also by crisis discourses.
Hydropower Infrastructures Techno-politics Crisis Porce II Colombia