Blocking Route 52

Mining, Landscape and Protest in Jujuy Province (Argentina, 2023)

Bibliographic Data

ID20103204
AuthorsDiego Ortúzar (0000-0002-9897-7295, PRODIG Laboratory (UMR 8586) Campus Condorcet, Bâtiment Recherche Sud Aubervilliers France, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume58
Issue2
Publication date2026-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArea (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-0894 • E-ISSN: 1475-4762
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/area.70120
OpenAlexW7159602827
LanguageEN
References cited15

This article examines the roadblocks that emerged in Jujuy Province, Argentina, during the 2023 regional protest against a constitutional reform that facilitated the expansion of lithium mining on public lands. Led by Indigenous communities across the province, many of them directly affected by the reform, the protest revealed a central paradox: it brought together groups with differing relationships to mining, some of which were not necessarily opposed to it. Drawing on historical and ethnographic material, the article analyses these heterogeneous positions by examining how landscapes shaped by distinct historical, economic and labour trajectories relate differently to mining, and how the growing presence of tourism has influenced these dynamics. A second key focus is the role of Route 52, the province's main east–west corridor, which spans 260 km of diverse Andean landscapes and served both as the main site of the protest and a material basis for coordination across these areas. In doing so, the article addresses a gap in the literature by analysing how communities with divergent positions managed to act collectively. It concludes that Route 52 has, since its construction, enhanced interaction across these landscapes, helping to amplify specific local demands while enabling communities to appear publicly as a unified Indigenous bloc. Thus, the analysis suggests that the road was not only the main setting of the mobilisation but also a key agent of articulation, enabling collective action across communities with distinct trajectories

Blocking (statistics) · Collective action · Ethnography · Indigenous · Key (lock) · Tourism · Indigenous Cultures and History · Mining and Resource Management · Politics and Society in Latin America

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