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Paper short abstract

Based on fieldwork on an island in Chile, this paper examines how customary and material practices speak to environmental and social pressures. It asks how these practices articulate local engagements and how they contribute to healing within watery relations in an archipelago.

Paper long abstract

This paper draws on fieldwork in the Chiloé archipelago in Chile to examine material practices and customary uses through the lens of healing amid environmental and social pressures.

This region is known for its marine biodiversity and unique ecosystems. Over the last decades, climate change and economic activities have begun to threaten local livelihoods and species. These effects have widely been covered in scholarly literature as well as the different responses by coastal communities. One such response to what scholars have come to call the Blue Anthropocene, are so-called Indigenous Marine Areas in Chile, a legal tool, enabling Indigenous communities to administer marine areas to safeguard customary uses. These areas are seen as key to ensure well-being of coastal communities.

Here, the paper focusses on material practices and customary uses on an island of the archipelago, perceiving of the surrounding water as medium of both connection and disruption. Drawing on the example of a group of female artisans who produce baskets traditionally used for gathering mussels, among other things, the paper pays attention to the different values attributed to water and how these materialize in objects. Finally, the paper asks how the above-mentioned practices can be understood as responses to the multiple pressures experienced on the island. How do these practices engage with environmental, social and economic challenges? What role does water as surrounding entity play in this regard? In this light, the paper explores what forms of healing emerge through these practices and how they operate beyond watery scales.