Ambivalent company attitudes and how they shape conflict: Mining conflicts in Mexico's ejidos

Latin American mining conflicts have gained considerable attention in recent years from scholars who have mainly focused on the role of community struggles. The role of the mining company has been largely overlooked and it is taken as an assumed actor with scripted reactions. This paper dissects the role of the mining company within mining conflicts to examine how the attitudes of company representatives can shape the dynamic of conflicts with community stakeholders, and in turn how communities can shape company attitudes. Taking the case studies of two gold mining conflicts in Mexico's ejido community landholding system, it illustrates how companies position themselves with attitudinal tactics such as blame-shifting, self-victimization, neutralizing the debate and ambivalence. These attitudes have different effects on both of the two communities examined. Company attitudes ultimately serve to position themselves as the gatekeepers of the discourse surrounding the mining project, and those communities that are able to unite to question the extractive model are those that are less vulnerable to these ambivalent attitudes from mining companies.