Social conflict and the making of a globalized place at Roşia Montană

About the Author ..........................................................................................6
List of abbreviations .....................................................................................9
List of figures ......................................................................................... 10
List of tables ......................................................................................... .11
Chapter One Introduction ...................................................................... ..........13
The Guiding Questions of the Book ................................... ....................................22
Roşia Montană Vignette .................................................... ..............................23
Chapter Two More than Meets the Eye: Roşia Montană in
Conflict ............................................................................. ...................31
Grassroots Environmental Conflicts .................................. ....................................33
The Trouble with Conflict .................................................. .............................36
Conflict more Complex than Previously Thought ............... ............................................40
Chapter Three Interpretations of the Local: Towards a Dynamic
Understanding of Place ...................................................................................46
Communities are More than Grassroots Movements............................................................46
The Recent Focus on Community in Environmental
Sociology ................................................................................................49
Current Views of the Community – Environment
Nexus ....................................................................................................53
The Limits of the Community Concept ......................................................................55
Community vs. Place: The Sociological Perspective ........................................................57
Place and its Limitations: The Geographical
Perspective ..............................................................................................62
Current Theories of Place and their Critique .............................................................64
Topogenesis: The Multiple Transformations of Place
under Globalization ........................................................... ..........................69
Chapter Four Methodology and the Experience of the (Mine)field ...........................................76
Before Entering the Field: Early Conjectures .............................................................76
Entering the Field: One Situation, Many Definitions ......................................................80
Entering the (Mine)field: The Politics of the Project ....................................................92
The Selection of Respondents .............................................................................99
Applying the Research Instruments .......................................................................106
Analysis of the Information Gathered ....................................................................112
Limitations of the Methodology...........................................................................113
Chapter Five From Singular to Plural Regimes of Production: The
Free-Floating Place .....................................................................................115
Conventional Approaches to the Trajectory of Place ......................................................117
The Pyramid of Places ...................................................................................124
Roşia Montană Unbound: The Emerge of a Freefloating
Place ...................................................................................................129
New and Old Political Actors as Supporters and
Opponents ...............................................................................................139
The Re-Mooring of Place or Its Continued Freefloating?
.........................................................................................................142
Chapter Six Location, Landscape and Community as
Experience-distancing Processes .........................................................................146
The Transformation of Roşia Montană .....................................................................146
(Dis)locating the Place: The Mining Company .............................................................147
The Unexpected Consequences of Distancing: The
Extra-local Opponents ...................................................................................155
Transformations in the Experience of Location:
Pathways and Cultural Spaces ............................................................................160
Some Unexpected Outcomes of Pathways: The
Locals ..................................................................................................164
Cultural Spaces: The Extra-local Opponents ..............................................................168
Place and Landscape .....................................................................................172
The Leisure Landscape: Extra-local opponents ............................................................174
The Industrial Landscape: ‘Sterilizing’ History and
Displacing People .......................................................................................183
Chapter Seven Location, Landscape, Community and Livelihoods:
Experience-Nearing Processes ............................................................................189
Uncertainty in a Free-floating, Globalized Place ........................................................189
The Creation of New Geographies of Risks ................................................................194
Following the Pathways of Risks and Opportunities .......................................................196
Surprise and Paradox at Roşia Montană ...................................................................201
Chapter Eight Conclusion ................................................................................216
Appendix ................................................................................................224
Bibliography ............................................................................................235
Acknowledgments .........................................................................................259
Index ...................................................................................................262