Paper Short Abstract:

This paper explores the question: How can we practice a decolonial, Latin American environmentalism away from the territory, when the territory is at the centre of it? The meaning of territory is explored alongside the notions of situatedness and pluriverse.

Paper Abstract:

How can we practice a decolonial, Latin American environmentalism away from the territory, when the territory is at the centre of it?

This question emerged from personal experience, and thus, I seek the answer to it by means of autoethnographic reflection on my position as an environmental activist and researcher in the diaspora. In these reflexions, I draw on three concepts to help me develop a praxis-oriented response:

1. Territory. Can the territory stretch? Can we revise what we mean by territory? Can we find new territories abroad?

2. Situatedness. How do we make a decolonial, context-specific environmentalism ‘land’ in a different context? What forms of translation must we engage in? And how do we engage with the new territory?

3. Pluriverse. Is the pluriverse an opportunity for a radical diasporic environmentalism that does not look like what it is expected to?

With this paper I hope to contribute to discussions on the traveling of political frameworks and projects like decolonisation, new forms of embodying politics across territories, and how the pluriverse can help nurture and connect radical projects that thrive in their situatedness.