Presentation short abstract

This paper describes and reflects on the implications of the concept of care/memory towards fellow humans, non-humans and natural spaces as experienced by an indigenous population in a small island of Southern Chile in a context of neoliberal driven, fast changes.

Presentation long abstract

In the small island Apiao (southern Chile) the concept of caring is intrinsically imbricated with the concept of remembering, what I defined ‘active memory’. Caring for someone implies keeping them constantly present in your mind, despite the distance, through regular communication, offers of presents, visiting. These acts of care ensure that people are not forgotten and as such, are cared for. The same acts of care extend to more-than-humans: the dead who have turned into powerful souls, and the miraculous saints. These entities are remembered, cared for and honoured with regular ritual prayer meetings requiring vast expenses and collective celebrations.

Similarly, the islanders who leave their abode for a new life in town where they partially embrace a middle-class social landscape, keep their land, their homes and all its contents; they return regularly and make use of their space and their land, as well as of the portion of the coast near their dwellings, always generous with resources. The house and all its content is cared for and kept ready to welcome its former inhabitants; the land is regularly cultivated; its orchards keep producing. The beach keeps offering supplies unavailable in town. And yet leaving and returning requires effort, energy and care – that care that allows nourishing and maintaining relationships between people, people and non-human entities, and people and the territory.

This paper will explore the challenges of such regular crossings and the resilience of these islanders, and the role of caring and remembering in their lifestyle and choices.