Disputed territories: views of development and the good life from Nicaragua

Abstract

The article contemplates the contradiction between two opposite views of development. On the one hand, people in Rancho Grande, a rural area in Nicaragua, points out that the good life is environmentally balanced, with community relationships based on mutual support, equality between women and men, and with practices of economic solidarity. On the other hand, progress and modernity ideas promised by a gold mining site by the transnational company B2Gold in the territory, supported by government and mass media. This dispute is keeping the project on hold.

From a feminist perspective, the most significant elements of the extractivist model implemented in Nicaragua as a strategy to reduce poverty are under question: the conflict between capital accumulation and life sustainability; the deep environmental and social impacts; gender inequalities reinforcement, and the links between patriarchy, capitalism, extractivism and colonialism. It also values rural knowledge and experiences as resistance practices to the official development discourse and the people’s right to participate in decisions about their territory, to reach objectives on poverty reduction, equity, and social justice.