Contribution short abstract:

Drawing on explorative fieldwork in Chile, this talk identifies actors shaping the ecological transformative imaginaries in the context of the Chilean constitutional process, centering how these actors address human-environment relations and thereby engage with practices of healing and communing.

Contribution long abstract:

In times of planetary crises, a wide range of actors propose approaches to socio-ecological transformations. By drawing on the Chilean constitutional process, this talk aims to give insights into the links between ecological transformative imaginaries shaped by state and non-state actors and concepts of healing and communing.

In 2022, a democratically elected convention presented a draft for a new Chilean constitution, widely considered innovative. The constitutional process itself, which unfolded after the social upheaval in 2019, was equally remarkable as it aimed to replace the existing constitution installed during dictatorship.

One feature of the draft was the intensified involvement with the environment. Thus, the draft recognized climate change as an essential threat and declared the sea, glaciers, and the coasts as natural common goods.

Drawing on explorative fieldwork in Chile, this talk delineates potential state and non-state actors, shaping the intensified involvement with the environment in the context of the constitutional process and the transformative ideas that have accompanied these developments.

Doing so, the following questions will be discussed: How did different actors imagine ecological transformation and how did they address human-environment relations? To what extent did these transformative imaginaries refer to utopian visions or past ideals? What role did conceptions of healing and communing play in the intensified involvement with the environment and in what sense were these inspired by Indigenous and local concepts and practices?

Considering that Chile’s constitutional draft was rejected, it is of interest to analyze the draft’s transformative potential five years after the social upheaval.