“Youth in a Global Age: Subjectivities and Self-Construction of Chilean Alter-Activist Leaderships across Post-2011 Mobilization”

The year 2011 represents a key moment in the history of social movements, as many mobilizations across the globe took place, such as the Arab Spring, the M15 Movement, Mane student mobilizations in Colombia, Occupy Wall Street, Acampa Sampa in Brazil or student mobilizations in Chile. All these mobilizations show a horizontal character of protests, as well as the absence of leaders. However, in the case of Chile in 2011 student mobilizations, leaders continue to play a fundamental role. This research seeks to understand the emergence of these leaders in a context in which social movement literature has forgotten them. Therefore, the general objective of this project is to understand the subjectivities of the young alter-activist leaderships of the recent post-2011 movements and their construction as individuals. This research considered the anti-extractivist movement (in Punta de Choros and Chiloé) and the movement of people indebted for education. The specific objectives to be considered here are: investigate the characteristics and the construction of the alter-activist leaderships, from their subjectivities; contrast how the young alter-activist leaders of the anti-extractivist movement and the movement of indebted are constructed as individuals and political actors; inquire into how subjectivities of young alter-activist leaders are related among themselves and to other young alter-activist leaders in global mobilizations; and analyze the global character of the post 2011 mobilizations from their own actors. This research is qualitative and explanatory. Using in-depth interviews and focus groups as instruments, the analysis strategy seeks to contrast the alter-activist subjects and understand how they construct themselves, as actors and as leaders of a social mobilization.