Charles Taylor Book Award Winner 2021: Thea Riofrancos, for Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador
Winner: Thea Riofrancos, Providence College, for Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press)
This year’s award for best book goes to Thea Riofrancos, author of Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020). The book is a tour de force. Combining both archival and ethnographic methods masterfully, Riofrancos’ book stands out for its sophisticated treatment of a topic of abiding concern to political science, namely the study of resource politics. But unlike conventional accounts, Riofrancos refocuses our attention onto the field of political struggle. In particular, her immersive study of the conflict between two visions of leftism offers an ethnographically and historically rich theoretical discussion—one with lasting significance for our understandings of democracy, the economy, the vicissitudes of political struggle, inequality, indigeneity, and the future of “the Left” worldwide. Documenting the dynamics of a conflict between the “twenty-first socialist government” of Ecuador and a major coalition of grassroots activists, Riofrancos shows how each faction charged the other with the perversion of leftist principles—with violating commitments to socioeconomic equality, anti-imperialism, and citizen empowerment. Ably narrating the changing contours of leftist politics (in which visions of resource nationalism’s extractive agenda chafe against grassroots concerns with safeguarding the environment and empowering indigenous communities), Riofrancos’ attunement to contemporary crises is especially laudable. For her nuanced fieldwork and engagement with archival materials, as well as her impressive knowledge of the various literatures in interpretive social science—and the philosophical debates underpinning them—it is our privilege to celebrate Resource Radicals as an exemplary work.
Selection Committee:
Lisa Wedeen, chair (University of Chicago)
Phillip Ayoub (Occidental College)
Juliet Williams (UCLA)
