In the early 20th century, at a time when the world was rapidly electrifying, the rise of industrial copper mining in central Peru produced a series of environmental conflicts. Mining depleted water sources, smelter smoke altered the ecology of the valleys, and underground work environments became toxic. This talk will examine the struggles of Indigenous migrant workers in the central highlands of Peru as window into these broader processes of environmental change, capitalist exploitation, and embodied resistance.

Juan Manuel Rubio is a scholar of capitalism, labor, and the environment.