Life in Oil

Michael L. Cepek is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is a board member of the CofÁn Survival Fund, a US nonprofit that supports the FundaciÓn Sobrevivencia CofÁn, a CofÁn-directed environmental and human rights organization, and the author of A Future for Amazonia: Randy Borman and CofÁn Environmental Politics.

Cepek's account of the CofÀn people's experiences, their lives literally rooted in some of Amazonia's most contentious and contaminated oil fields, is an extraordinary new testament…an essential addition to our collective library. (American Ethnologist) The book makes for a fascinating read and is refreshing in its writing style . . . it raises important questions of autonomy and self-determination of a people and speaks to critical debates raging at present within the academia. (Conservation and Society) For scholars and students interested in questions of oil, the environment, and indigeneity-or simply curious about what counts as great ethnography and how it might be done-the book is a must-read. (Environment and Society) This book will help lay audiences and introductory students learn about the hydrocarbon industry's impacts on the Ecuadorian Amazon from a heavily CofÁn perspective. Scholars of Indigenous Amazonia will appreciate the ethnographic detail regarding the lives of CofÁn people and communities. (Journal of Latin American Geography) Cepek's book records the experience of the Cofan People in Ecuador's Aguarico River region for over 25 years, before they knew what this black sticky stuff was, and puts hard fact to the decades long legal battle between Chevron (Texaco) and the locals. It's quite a compelling informative and an unbiased read. (Intentional Paradigms) [P]owerful, moving, and accessible…This book is highly recommended for students learning about indigenous peoples and resource extraction, the ethics of energy, and contemporary life in the Amazon, and should be at the top of everyone's list of ethnographies written for a broader, public audience. (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute) Profoundly nuanced and empathetic…Cepek produces one of the more realistic accounts of the effects of oil on everyday life in a community on the frontlines of oil extraction. (Anthropological Quarterly) Life in Oil is an extraordinarily insightful ethnography that stakes out new ground in understanding indigenous life in Amazonia and survival beyond all odds. (HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory) [Life in Oil] is a compelling complication of popular anthropological and environmental narratives about the Amazon. It is without doubt a direct refutation of any claim that petroleum operations in Ecuador have caused no harm to the Cofán…This book needs to be read widely, especially outside of anthropology, and outside the classroom...This book pushes open a clearing, and makes a place where outsiders can stop to consider what is happening in the Ecuadorian Amazon. (Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology) Based on my own research in the region, Cepek's work is extremely credible. It is rare to have a view of local culture that is so respectful of the importance of individual agency, and so understanding of the diversity of perspectives and practices within an indigenous society. Only with this understanding is it possible to understand ongoing change as the product of adaptive choices...[Life in Oil] is a highly readable book that can be recommended for classroom use. (Bulletin of Latin American Research)

• A Note on the PhotographsA Note on Corporate ActorsList of Important IndividualsChapter 1. Black WaterChapter 2. DurenoChapter 3. The Death of Yori’yeChapter 4. The Cocama ArriveChapter 5. Damaged WorldChapter 6. Prohibition and ProtestChapter 7. The Possibility of CoexistenceChapter 8. Life in OilAcknowledgmentsNotesGlossaryWorks CitedIndex