Regionalist Social Movements in Contemporary Chile: Production of Space, Place, Territory, and Scale Through Collective Action
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Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE December 2019 Regionalist Social Movements in Contemporary Chile: Production of Space, Place, Territory, and Scale Through Collective Action Miguel A. Contreras Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Contreras, Miguel A., "Regionalist Social Movements in Contemporary Chile: Production of Space, Place, Territory, and Scale Through Collective Action" (2019). Dissertations - ALL. 1116. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/1116 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract In the last decade, the organization of several territorially based social movements in Chile has expressed a significant level of social discomfort about the political and economic system of the country. The central objective of this dissertation is to analyze how motivations, achievements, and failures of these movements have a dialectical relationship with the spatial features, specifically with the concepts place, territory and scale. Critical geography, political geography, and social movements’ studies provide the theoretical framework for the analysis, highlighting the significance of social movements as producers of collective knowledge. This research used a qualitative approach with a mix-methods design that included archival and online research, as well as 58 in-deep semi-structured interviews conducted in a 6-months fieldwork in Chile. Collected data identified 21 cases of territorially based social movements during the period 2006-2016 that reached different levels of significance. This research selected three case studies for a deeper comparative analysis: Aysén, Chiloé, and San Antonio. The main findings are: (1) these territorially based social movements, while not revolutionary, criticized the neoliberal small state, demanding effective provision of social rights and more territorial autonomy; (2) these movements appealed to a place-based identity connected to natural elements, and their collective action reframed such identity, leading to social empowerment; (3) material space framed collective action of these movements since isolated conditions allowed long-lasting demonstrations; also, collective action produced ephemeral places and temporarily changed the territorial dynamics; and (4) the regional scale was a crucial for these movements because it politically engaged local problems with national debates regarding economic, social, and environmental issues. All this shows that collective action conducted by social movements strongly engages with the spatial realm in multiple, creative and diverse ways. Regionalist Social Movements in Contemporary Chile: Production of Space, Place, Territory, and Scale Through Collective Action By Miguel A. Contreras B.A. Universidad de Chile, 1998 M.A. Universidad de Chile, 2009 Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography Syracuse University December 2019 Copyright © Miguel A. Contreras 2019 All Rights Reserved Acknowledgments Many people have helped me in this long-term project. However, I would love to express my gratitude to: Gabriel, my happiness from outer space, my tiny sphere of light. Thanks for your patience, your constant, loving support, and the long conversations about life, geography and linguistic theory. The people of Aysén, Chiloé, and San Antonio, and the people of Chile mobilized in October 2019. Your inspiring actions are lighthouses that guide the creation of communitarian alternatives of social organization. I hope this research helps to spread your message. Professor Tom Perreault, a great advisor. Thanks for your patience and constant support in all this process. I have no words to actually express my gratitude. My parents, Gustavo and Sarita, eternal stars lighting my path; and my dear family, Ery, Lore, Danina, Nati, and Mauro. You are the best! Thanks for your unconditional love. My dear friends, Claudio, Joselyn, Gabriela and Enrique. Partners in this geographic route for a long time. Thanks for teaching me the meaning of friendship. Maria Elena, Evanán, Ximena, Andrés, Contan, and the little girls. Thanks for your prayers. My family in Syracuse: Manuela, Auri, Pam, Enrique, Kelsey, Marian, Thiago, Jessie, Daniela, Mafe, Fabiola, Leyla. My family in NYC: Gemma, Salva, Sara, Víctor, Rocío. The best British-Iberic-Latin American team I have ever known. My mentors: Irma Muñoz who taught me letters, numbers, and maps in primary school; Javier Gelmi who infected me with the virus of Geography in Highschool; and Prof. Paulina Schiappacasse, unforgettable mentor of Universidad de Chile. My professors at Syracuse University: Don Mitchell, Tod Rutherford, Mark Monmonier, Jamie Winders, Natalie Koch, and Matt Huber. The Department of Geography of the University of Chile, example of high-quality academic work conducted under difficult conditions. fulbright, Becas-Chile, and Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo of the University of Chile, for all the material support in this PhD process. Y para todos los que ya no están, pero siguen en mi corazón... GRACIAS. Miguel Contreras Alonso iv Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction: Social revolts in Chile’s peaceful regions ......................................... 1 1.1. The cycle of protest in Chile during the early twenty-first century ................................... 2 1.1.1. Political and administrative centralization ............................................................................... 6 1.1.2. The economic model and the production of subnational spaces in Chile ................................ 8 1.1.3. The organization of citizens’ assemblies throughout Chile ................................................... 10 1.2. Research questions: social movements and space .............................................................. 12 1.3. General theoretical approach .............................................................................................. 14 1.4. Research methods and case studies ..................................................................................... 17 1.4.1. Methods and sample selection ............................................................................................... 17 1.4.2. Case studies ............................................................................................................................ 22 1.4.3. Some methodological limitations and notes on the researcher’s positionality ...................... 25 1.5. Dissertation structure ........................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 2. Questioning neoliberalism from the Chilean regions ............................................ 31 2.1. Theoretical debates about neoliberalism, state, and nature ............................................. 34 2.1.1. Neoliberalism as a radical mode of capitalism ...................................................................... 35 2.1.2. The neoliberal state: small, strong, and decentralized ........................................................... 39 2.1.3. Neoliberalism and nature ....................................................................................................... 46 2.2. General view of the citizens’ assemblies in Chile ............................................................... 50 2.3. Assemblies demanding more state ....................................................................................... 59 2.3.1. Education ............................................................................................................................... 60 2.3.2. Healthcare .............................................................................................................................. 62 2.3.3. Other sensitive services ......................................................................................................... 64 2.4. Decentralization to resist neoliberalism .............................................................................. 67 2.5. Resisting and adapting to the neoliberal production/destruction of nature .................... 72 2.5.1. Administration of natural resources and distribution of benefits .......................................... 72 2.5.2. Polluting activities and environmental deterioration ............................................................. 75 2.6. Conclusion: Regionalist citizens’ assemblies questioning the neoliberal space .............. 79 Chapter 3: Transforming place-based identity through collective action ............................. 83 3.1. Theorizing identity and social movements ......................................................................... 84 3.1.1. Construction of identity ......................................................................................................... 84 3.1.2. Place as a source of collective identity .................................................................................. 89 3.1.3. Social movements as producers of identity ........................................................................... 92 3.2. Natural conditions and regional identities in Chile ........................................................... 95 3.2.1.