A sea uprooted: Islandness and political identity on Chiloé Island, Chile

Abstract

In 2016, the people of Chiloé, an island in Southern Chile, mobilised against the Chilean state for a period of over three weeks. The conflict was triggered by an environmental crisis that affected the main economic activities of the island: salmon farming and artisanal fisheries. This article argues that 'islandness' should also be understood as a political stance toward the state. Based on in-depth interviews and an exploration of the concept of islandness, the paper examines the mayo chilote, and contributes an empirical reflection on the transformation of islandness as a political position by analysing the tension between two narratives, each demanding different treatment for the island: demand for redistribution led by those directly affected by economic losses resulting from the crisis, and autonomy as development, involving deeper and broader criticism of historical relations with Chile. We aim to contribute to island studies by providing a non-binary understanding of processes of identity and social mobilisation.

The adaptive cycle and the ecosystem services: a social-ecological analysis of Chiloé Island, southern Chile

“…These structures facilitated the introduction and industrialization of salmon farming in the Chiloé coastal zone in 1991 (Chilean Fisheries and Aquaculture Law Nº 18.892), followed by a clustering process with the salmon industry, generating a production chain between providers and the enterprises within the region. The industry then offered economic subsidies and loans to all those interested in participating in the production/ export process, making other ways of life (agriculture, wood harvest) almost nonviable (Bustos and Román 2019). For the third and higher cycle (global scale of economic markets), we suggest that the adaptive cycle is crossing what Gunderson (2002:1057 [Kindle edition]) call a "front loop" stage.…”

“…Under these conditions, some authors have described the Chilean state's role as permissive . Nevertheless, local traditions started getting lost in later years (2008)(2009)(2010) when the government increased coastal regulations requiring fishing permits and assigning quotas even for traditional activities such as macroalgae and seafood harvest (Pavez 2015, Bustos andRomán 2019).…”

Locating the interstitial island: Integration of Zhoushan Archipelago into the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration

“…Islanders, (Zhoushan residents) though, see their archipelago as urban, even if it does not match city-oriented conceptions of urbanism. As is evident in the interview excerpts below, islanders themselves recognise tensions between Zhoushan’s island-conditioned integration into a massive urban agglomeration and their ideas regarding what they feel islands ought to be like – the tension between openness and closure, complexity and simplicity, relation and non-relation that has been so central to discussions within relational and urban island studies (Bustos and Román, 2019; Grydehøj, 2020a; Pugh, 2018).…”

Integración territorial como marginación: obstáculos para las zonas aisladas en Aysén y Magallanes, Chile

“…Pero también identificamos la injusticia hermenéutica, que se expresa tanto en dicho desconocimiento como en las capacidades locales de articular narrativas que contengan dicho habitar y que logren, posteriormente, volcarlas en una posición política. Las brechas evidentes entre las autoridades de nivel central y aquellas situadas en regiones extremas tienen una trayectoria (Bustos & Román, 2019;Cramer, 2016). Han sido construidas a través de décadas de integración y de homologación de las reglas del juego y son especialmente notorias al considerar a quienes residen en localidades que presentan este aislamiento de manera especialmente aguda.…”