Clean and future-oriented: Local perceptions of lithium extraction in Bolivia during the presidency of Evo Morales

• During the Morales presidency, the government represented lithium extraction as a departure from the colonial and neoliberal legacy, holding the potential for economic self-determination and a shift to a decolonial future through a national industry. • Public perceptions of lithium extraction as being ‘future-oriented’ and distinct from conventional mining practices are rooted in long-term collective and institutional memories of the colonial and neoliberal past and the exploitation of Bolivia's wealth by foreigners. • Government communications shaped people's perceptions around lithium as ‘clean’ by omitting information about environmental risks, which combined with public images of the mineral's whiteness and its physical affinity to salt and water. • By the end of the Morales presidency, people continued to believe in the ‘cleanness’ and ‘future-orientation’ of the lithium industry, but they no longer believed in Morales’ ability to generate national or local benefits from lithium production. In the past two decades, lithium has gained critical global importance as a transition metal. Under President Evo Morales (2006–2019), the Bolivian government launched a national lithium extraction industry in the Uyuni salt flat. However, efforts to develop industrial-scale extraction of lithium there have been beset by considerable delays. Focusing on the period of Morales’ presidency, this article analyses the perceptions of lithium and its extraction amongst people living in the region around the Uyuni salt flat, specifically in the urban centres. In state media and official communication lithium extraction was presented as a ‘clean’ and ‘future-oriented’ activity, distinct from traditional mining practices. Public perceptions of lithium extraction as being ‘future-oriented’ and distinct from conventional mining practices were also rooted in collective memories of the colonial and neoliberal past and the exploitation of Bolivia's wealth by foreigners. Lithium extraction was therefore also associated with a shift towards a decolonial future that was expected to generate wealth. By the end of the Morales presidency, while people in the region still believed in the clean and future-oriented nature of lithium and its extraction, they no longer believed in Morales’ ability to generate national or local benefits from lithium production.