Mining community: The cultural politics of copper, class and gender in Butte, Montana, United States of America and Chuquicamata, Chile.

Abstract

Transnational corporations have left their marks on communities world wide. However, we know little about the connections between communities whose histories have been linked through the operations of corporate giants. This dissertation tells a tale of two cities, Butte, Montana, USA, and Chuquicamata, Chile, tracing their histories through the veins of copper mined by the Anaconda Company. From the 1920s to the 1970s, these towns were the key sites of copper production for the Anaconda Company. This work explores the constructions of community, class and gender that linked and separated the people of Butte and Chuquicamata, situating local struggles in a global context. A theory of practice informs this study of the relationship between capitalism and community. Tensions of structure and agency are articulated through the dilemmas residents faced as the company gave with one hand and took with the other. The dissertation examines ways in which the Anaconda Company exploited and obfuscated the relationship between Butte and Chuquicamata, taking advantage of labor conflicts in the process. Analyses of gender relations and women's experiences have been largely ignored in research on mining communities. This work brings a gender lens to the questions of community, class and labor. The author compares the spatial and temporal structuring of mining life in Butte and Chuquicamata that shaped women's critical consciousness and action. Miner's consumption, the popular name for silicosis, provides a powerful metaphor for the many forms of danger and wasting that penetrated mining life. The author moves away from a "mode of production" approach to a cultural analysis of consumption in examining the contradictions that have historically confronted community residents. Gender- and class-based themes of trust and betrayal are addressed. The author argues that distrust, and the resistance it provokes, are key to the retooling of workers for their transient positions in the flexible market of 21st century capitalism. As communities weather the impacts of profound economic shifts, new strategies are needed for building common ground and critical action. This work offers a new model for community studies, sensitive to the relationship between local culture and global capitalism.