Company Towns in a Transnational Commodity Chain: Social and Environmental Dimensions of Aluminum Production in Porto Trombetás, Brazil, and Årdal, Norway

Abstract

Thousands of miles and contrasting geographic settings separate Porto Trombetás and Årdal. Yet, since the mid-1970s both towns have been connected by a transnational commodity chain. For over thirty-five years, mine workers in the Brazilian Amazon have dug bauxite from the Trombetas deposits and loaded the ore on bulk carriers to be transported to various smelters and transformed into aluminum oxide. One such site was the Norwegian town of Årdal, located deep in the interior of the Sognefjord, which grew during the twentieth century into a major industrial center and by mid-century boasted the largest aluminum plant in Western Europe. First introduced by Terence Hopkins and Immanuel Wallerstein, the term commodity chain describes “a network of labor and production processes whose end result is a finished commodity.”¹ For its part, a global commodity chain “consists of sets of interorganizational networks clustered around one commodity within the world economy” that are “situationally specific, socially constructed, and locally integrated, underscoring the social embeddedness of economic organization.”² At opposite ends of the global aluminum commodity chain, the company towns of Porto Trombetás and Årdal exemplify these local adaptations. This chapter examines the living and working conditions in both towns and the social and environmental impacts of their incorporation into the commodity chain.³