Extractivist Policies in Intercultural Contexts: An Approach to Socio-Environmental Tensions from Relational Ontologies.
Extractivist Policies in Intercultural Contexts: An Approach to Socio-Environmental Tensions from Relational Ontologies.
Thursday, 10 July 2025: 11:15
Location: SJES006 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
Oral Presentation
This research aims to explore the controversies and ontological differences in intercultural relations associated with socio-environmental conflicts in Mapuche territory in Chile. Through situated methodologies (Hirt & Lerch, 2014; Doyle-Yamaguchi & Smith, 2024), it aims to analyse the construction of ‘objects of territory’ from three key components: ontological, material and discursive.
The hypotheses put forward suggest that disputes over extractive initiatives cannot be resolved through consensus due to fundamental ontological differences. Moreover, intercultural relations in indigenous resistance processes are shaped by ontological configurations that oppose the capitalist extractivist model. Finally, it is proposed that actors access repertoires of justifications as strategies to confront controversies, seeking to close them unilaterally.
The methodology will be exploratory and descriptive, analysing cases in different indigenous territories with diverse extractivist initiatives. Three key industries present in the indigenous territory will be addressed: the forestry industry in the communities of Lumaco, mining in the Curarrehue sector, and the energy industry in the communities of Negrete and Collipulli.
The methodological approach combines documentary analysis, controversy analysis and participatory mapping, adopting an approach that values the indigenous perspective and the self-reflection of the researcher. The work will be carried out in collaboration with communities in the Araucanía region, supported by the concept of ‘Two-Eyed Seeing’, which seeks to understand the territory relationally and build networks of actors. It will also include the construction of territorial autobiographies to understand, from the communities' own voice, their relationship with the extractive industries.
In this way, the research aims to understand the perceptions and effects, whether positive or negative, that the communities experience when faced with the operation of the extractive industries analysed.
The hypotheses put forward suggest that disputes over extractive initiatives cannot be resolved through consensus due to fundamental ontological differences. Moreover, intercultural relations in indigenous resistance processes are shaped by ontological configurations that oppose the capitalist extractivist model. Finally, it is proposed that actors access repertoires of justifications as strategies to confront controversies, seeking to close them unilaterally.
The methodology will be exploratory and descriptive, analysing cases in different indigenous territories with diverse extractivist initiatives. Three key industries present in the indigenous territory will be addressed: the forestry industry in the communities of Lumaco, mining in the Curarrehue sector, and the energy industry in the communities of Negrete and Collipulli.
The methodological approach combines documentary analysis, controversy analysis and participatory mapping, adopting an approach that values the indigenous perspective and the self-reflection of the researcher. The work will be carried out in collaboration with communities in the Araucanía region, supported by the concept of ‘Two-Eyed Seeing’, which seeks to understand the territory relationally and build networks of actors. It will also include the construction of territorial autobiographies to understand, from the communities' own voice, their relationship with the extractive industries.
In this way, the research aims to understand the perceptions and effects, whether positive or negative, that the communities experience when faced with the operation of the extractive industries analysed.