Studi e ricerche

La velocidad en los mundos lentos

Accidentes, máquinas y sociedades en América del Sur

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open access | peer reviewed

Abstract
From trucks and bulldozers to smaller tools like chainsaws and electric generators, a massive influx of machinery is currently reshaping Latin America’s peripheral landscapes. This process of mechanical colonization introduces disruptive and often violent forms of acceleration that profoundly impact environments and societies. Drawing on anthropology, history, and geography, this volume analyzes mechanical accidents as critical events. These events are not random fatalities but reveal tensions between machines, territories, and societies, prompting a re-evaluation of concepts like materiality, agency and causality.

Keywords Ayoreo • Anthropology of infrastructure • Humahuaca, Iturbe • Easter Island • Mechanization • Trains • Technology • Prevention • Asphalt • Travel Accounts • Chile • Whalers • Wichí • Lafkenche society • Animal trampling • Copper mining • Roads • Suicide • Storytelling • Guarani ethnography • Addictions • Indigenous peoples • Aullagas • Technological appropriation • Extractivism • Accidents • Tragedy • Violence • Memory • Capitalism • Speed • Motorcycles • Mapuche • Accident • Press • Jujuy • Extractive industries • History of the Chaco • Sulfur mining • Routes • Neo-wildlife • Indigenous perception • Motorcycle • Symbols • Infrastructure • National identity • Government agencies • Rhythm • Road anthropology • Indigenous labor • Spaces of memory • Rubber Boom • Development projects • State • Transportation • Hunter and gatherers • Chaco • Machines • Potosí • Mixtecs • Imaginary • Machine-animal relations • Power • Culture • Being-on-the-street • Amazonia • Chuquicamata • Gran Chaco • Bolivia • History • Progress • Volcanoes • Oral tradition • In-between • Road accidentality • Train accident • Explosion mining capitalism • Mining • Shipwrecks • Draining machines

Thema codes JHMC • NHTK • 1KLS • 3MN

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-940-5 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-940-5 | Published Sept. 30, 2025 | Language es