A bridge that disconnects - On shared and divided socio-spatialities in the pulp mill conflict between Uruguay and Argentina

This article focuses on communication failures fuelling a cross-border conflict over the construction of a pulp mill in Fray Bentos, Uruguay, on the banks of a shared river, and over the Argentinian anti-mill activists' protest that blocked a bridge connecting the two countries. The analysis, grounded on thematic interviews and surveys on both sides of the border, identifies some of the critical events of mis- and non-communication that deepened the disagreement between the neighbors. Likewise, it examines the extent to which the dispute has changed popular imageries of the neighboring nation and provided ground for the reproduction of negative stereotypes and defensive nationalisms. The case study offers an example of unruly amplification of decisive acts of neglect and provocations in an international interface setting, and thus provides conceptual tools for socio-environmental conflict researchers concerned with dissociations and non-linkages in contemporary globalization.