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Paper short abstract

This paper examines digital environmental activism in Ecuador during the 2025 constitutional referendum. Using hashtag network analysis, it reflects on digital fieldwork, political polarization, and more-than-human claims within contested human–environment relations online in Ecuador

Paper long abstract

In November 2025, amid escalating sociopolitical polarization, Ecuador held a national referendum whose constitutional dimension threatened to unsettle long-standing protections for nature. In this contentious setting, environmental organizations, Indigenous collectives, and independent activists mobilized both on the streets and online to resist extractivist expansion and defend more than human worlds. This paper examines the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting digital fieldwork in such fractured terrains, rethinking research possibilities at the intersection of human–environment relationships under polarization.

This paper examines the forms of digital activism developed by these actors through the analysis of social media activity. By mapping and analyzing a network of hashtags, the study demonstrates how digital fieldwork can be conducted to capture activist dynamics and discursive strategies online. The research adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analysis to explore both the structure of digital networks and the narratives circulating within them, as well as different modes of visualizing the results.

This research is framed within the FUTURNAT project, which investigates cultural imaginaries of the relationship between humanity and nature in media, activism, and environmental communication. The project aims to identify emerging narratives that promote cultural change toward sustainable futures, with an interdisciplinary perspective and a strong focus on sociocultural diversity in the Ibero-American region and North–South global dialogue.