Reciprocal Sacrifice
Journal
Unruly Natures Journal
ISSN-Digital
3042-7797
Type
digital resource
Date Issued
2025-12-18
Author(s)
Abstract
"Reciprocal Sacrifice" ties into a larger body of work, "Be Damned," that looks at how energy infrastructure in the shape of large hydroelectric dams or mine tailing dams impacts ecosystems and communities across the Western Hemisphere. “Reciprocal Sacrifice” is one of the first works that start to establish deeper connections between the South and the North of the continent of the Americas, so that people and communities from all across the continent can understand that we face similar struggles and that we can recognize each other in our resistances. Far from separate, rivers connect us.
I understood that unlike other cases and other rivers or basins in Latin America, the case for the struggle to undam rivers here in the Pacific Northwest and in the West Coast of the United States is the impact on salmon populations — a fish that is intrinsically knitted into the cultural identity and relationship between human and non-human communities along these basins. In Colombia, the fight for stopping dam construction often has to do with fishing, but not with a particular fish, as in the case of salmon; it's tied to land displacement and to the loss of fertile lands for agriculture. The main claim for the indigenous, native, and civil society allies to call for the dismantling of the Snake River or the Klamath River or the Elwha River is the claim to save salmon.
I understood that unlike other cases and other rivers or basins in Latin America, the case for the struggle to undam rivers here in the Pacific Northwest and in the West Coast of the United States is the impact on salmon populations — a fish that is intrinsically knitted into the cultural identity and relationship between human and non-human communities along these basins. In Colombia, the fight for stopping dam construction often has to do with fishing, but not with a particular fish, as in the case of salmon; it's tied to land displacement and to the loss of fertile lands for agriculture. The main claim for the indigenous, native, and civil society allies to call for the dismantling of the Snake River or the Klamath River or the Elwha River is the claim to save salmon.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Official URL