This article presents an autoethnographic journey from Santiago (Chile) to the Mapuche Huilliche and Lafkenche territories. The route included two key stops that articulated ritual, productive, and political relationships: first, Fundo Huite, where a palín tournament was held together with Mapuche ancestral authorities; and second, Huapi Island, where a Machiluwün, the ritual consecration of a new Machi, took place. This journey connected one of the world’s most neoliberal capitals with a “red zone” of territorial conflict. There, the alliance between the Chilean state and extractive industries confronts Mapuche communities in southern Chile, generating tensions among human and more-than-human, spiritual and ritual, technological, political, and ontological forces. The territorial conflicts observed are not merely disputes over land but also expressions of resistance to capitalist neocolonialism. The researchers’ experience involved navigating tangible ontological barriers through five constitutive tensions: temporality, ontology–agency, economy–territory, epistemology–language, and sensoriality–objectivity. This autoethnography reveals embodied and perceived frictions, enabling a situated and sentipensante (feeling-thinking) approach capable of engaging with—though not resolving—questions that extend beyond the limits of modern epistemology. These forms of resistance and re-existence intertwine spiritual, corporeal, technological, and political entities, challenging conventional research methods and underscoring the need to integrate embodied experience into fieldwork.
The situation of Jewish migration from Nazi Germany generated significant debate among various Latin American nations. Chile was no exception to the controversy during the governments of Arturo Alessandri and Pedro Aguirre Cerda, between 1938 and 1942. This study aims to analyze Chile’s overall position regarding the phenomenon of Jewish migration to Europe, with particular attention to the experiences of Jewish refugees in Bolivia and their attempts to migrate to Chile. The central hypothesis suggests that the reception of German Jews from Bolivia occurred during a pivotal juncture in Chilean foreign policy, when decisions regarding European Jewish migration intersected with expectations for relations with Bolivia. Diplomatic ties at the embassy level had been strengthened; however, Bolivia’s landlocked status remained a central concern in Bolivian policy. Consular and diplomatic efforts regarding German Jews formed part of a largely unknown and overlooked period in Chile-Bolivia relations, reflecting the complexity faced by both states in responding to a universal human tragedy.
This study examines how the Quechua population of the village of Hualla, Peru, managed the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of a public health system crisis. An ethnographic method was employed to this end, including interviews with individuals exhibiting symptoms of the virus and the collection of information from the staff at the Hualla Health Center between April 2021 and June 2022. The findings reveal that community members relied on traditional medical knowledge, such as the use of medicinal plants, healing rituals, and invocations to divine beings, as well as on communal organization. These strategies enabled them to adapt to the new situation and demonstrate their agency. The study concludes that the strategies adopted by the population not only helped to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, but also constituted a form of cultural resistance against the hegemony of biomedicine and the state’s control over the body.
On the road to a fair, sustainable and inclusive energy transition, the decentralized and participatory use of renewable resources is favored in order to advance in the diversification of sources, the securitization of systems, the decarbonization of activities, and the fight against poverty. These changes require minerals for infrastructure and equipment, making the Andes increasingly dynamic in their supply. The link between mining and energy is reinforced by growing interdependence in territories that are increasingly open to community participation, where activities such as tourism and heritage promotion are associated. This paper brings together results obtained from research with a strong empirical basis. The aim of this article is to deepen our understanding of the energy transition, showing the link with the extractive activities it drives in mountain areas and with its promotion of tourism and heritage. To this end, it analyzes the cases of lithium and copper mines in the Andes, particularly Chuquicamata (Chile), the Olaroz salt flat (Argentina), and the Uyuni salt flat (Bolivia). In northern Chile and Argentina, and southern Bolivia, mining (energy) megaprojects are central to the transition toward sustainability. With multiple risks and possibilities, mining (energy) and tourism-heritage development converge in a new centrality of large-scale spaces.
The purpose of this article is to explore and analyze Ecuavóley as a fundamental element of identity and community for Kichwa-Otavalo migrants in Santiago de Chile. The research methodology is developed through a qualitative design with an ethnographic approach. Data collection techniques combine bibliographic analysis with fieldwork, participant observation, and conversational interviews. The participating subjects are Kichwa-Otavalo migrants who gather in Santiago. The study seeks to understand how this sport not only serves as a form of recreation, but also acts as a means to maintain social cohesion, culture, and traditions within the migrant community. The importance of Ecuavóley in constructing a sense of belonging is highlighted through the weaving of migratory networks as a form of support, as well as through social interaction in the construction of their own migrant territories.
