This thesis investigates the oil city in Latin America in the 20th and 21st centuries as the key node in the long process of turning oil from a natural carbon sink – produced by planet Earth across millions of years – into an energy source and commodity by humankind. Through archival research and fieldwork in the cities of Comodoro Rivadavia in Argentina, Barrancabermeja in Colombia, and Ciudad del Carmen in Mexico, the thesis emphasizes the historical and contemporary significance of these oil cities. It explores how petroleum has shaped their social, cultural, and environmental landscapes. The thesis argues for the importance of studying these places as an ecosystem of archives and embodied habits crucial to a local understanding of the dynamics and realities of the Anthropocene on the ground.
By examining these oil cities, the aim is to place Latin America at the forefront of global oil history, highlighting the region's critical role in energy production and the ongoing debates surrounding resource sovereignty, labor rights, and environmental justice. Particularly, Latin America offers a critical perspective on national control over energy sources, revealing how this carries both the potential for emancipatory ideals but also exclusionary politics.
The thesis foregrounds the concept of memorialization, showing how oil’s legacy is actively remembered and reproduced through literature, monuments, festivals, and other cultural practices as well as in the minutia of daily life. The thesis argues that this memorialization has also created a cultural path-dependency tied to oil, revealing a further piece of the multi-faceted challenge of moving away from fossil fuels.