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"The Small Matter of Suing Chevron tells the story of the infamously complex litigation revolving around the aftermath of Chevron's oil drilling in Ecuador's Lago Agrio area. Suzana Sawyer offers both an ethnographic account of the harms communities faced due to Chevron's dumping practices as well as a scientific analysis that reveals the unstable qualities of benzene, a known carcinogen found in gasoline. Sawyer provides a reformulation of chemical elements as "dynamic probabilities" instead of "definite stable substances," emphasizing that an element's behavior is contingent on its environment. Thus, she uses both literal and figurative interpretations of benzene and its properties as a way of discussing Chevron and the Lago Agrio region. The book's final section narrates and analyzes the court trials between Chevron and the nation of Ecuador. Ultimately, Sawyer highlights how business corporations, such as Chevron, claim to be morally superior agents while producing violent material consequences for communities and environments, and how these contradictions are exemplary of liberal democracy."--

Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography --- South America --- contamination --- corporation --- environment --- Indigenous peoples --- law --- resource extraction --- science --- Peasants --- Environmental racism. --- Petroleum industry and trade --- Social conditions. --- Environmental aspects --- Health aspects --- Chevron Corporation (2005) --- ChevronTexaco (Firm) --- Trials, litigation, etc. --- Energy industries --- Oil industries --- Racism --- Ethnology --- Peasantry --- Agricultural laborers --- Rural population --- Marks (Medieval land tenure) --- Villeinage --- Chevron Texaco --- ChevronTexaco Corporation --- Chevron Texaco Corporation --- Chevron Corporation --- Texaco, Inc.