Emotions and environmental activism in large-scale mining. Analysis of a copper mining project in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile

Abstract

In recent years, one of the emerging axes of analysis of socio-environmental conflicts has been the role of emotions. However, there are still few studies on this affective dimension in the case of mining. From the affective perspective of environmental activists, this work addresses the conflict associated with a mining project, whose large-scale impacts in a context of climate change and water scarcity, generating an environmental threat for the inhabitants of Santiago Metropolitan Region and Valparaiso Region. Through a qualitative methodology, in- depth interviews were conducted with socio- environmental activists with the aim of analysing how emotions are drawn and mobilized in the defense of a territory against large-scale mining. It focuses on two main aspects: the relationship of activists with the territory and the effects of environmental struggle on them. Results show how attachment to the place has a strong incidence in the defense of the territory and in the construction of an intersubjective identity around it. Likewise, it is elucidated that the socio-territorial defense action has strong implications for the well-being of environmental leaders, who are subjected to various political and social, public and private pressures.