Valeska Morales Urbina's doctoral thesis defense
This research examines the interlinked dynamics of gender-based violence and inequalities within a territory destined for socio-environmental sacrifice, a context marked by eco-territorial conflicts and community resistance, through a case study of the Huasco River basin.
The methodological approach is based on participatory qualitative research, framed through the theoretical lenses of situated, decolonial, and feminist political ecology. The study engaged 36 participants through in-depth interviews. Of these, 27 also contributed to creating body maps, a powerful visual method for documenting the impacts of extractivist violence on their bodies-territories. Furthermore, the project incorporated a collaborative photo-ethnography component, substantially enriched by the contributions of Margarita Lara Muñoz and Joan Valenzuela Cruz during the second phase of fieldwork.
The findings reveal a complex typology of gender-based violence perpetuated in these contexts, including: extractivist structural violence, internalized violence, institutional and political violence, environmental and eco-territorial violence, and everyday community violence.Conversely, the study also identifies profound processes of subjectivity displacement, resistance, re-existence, and a growing reflexivity that fuels feminist and socio-environmental activism.