Extractivism is a systematic form of relentless natural resource extraction. While it produces enormous resource outputs, the collateral effects of extractivism are deeply harmful to the surrounding landscape and its inhabitants, including pre-extractivist activities such as expropriation. Latin America has been particularly affected by extractivism, and the concept has been embraced by decolonial activists and thinkers to critically examine the dynamics of dependency and exploitation by the Global North. Extractivism is connected to an underlying notion of a hierarchical division between nature and culture, which solidifies the idea of Latin America as a provider of natural resources. It therefore plays a central role in sustaining contemporary power relations rooted in colonialism.

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