Stratigraphy of volcanic memory: Sociocultural dimensions of volcanic risk in the Southern Andes, Chile

Abstract

This article focuses on communities that reoccupy territories affected by volcanic eruptions to extend understanding of people's social appropriation of environments exposed to natural hazards. We take as a case study three rural settlements affected by several eruptions from the Carran‐Los Venados and Puyehue‐Cordón Caulle volcanic systems (Southern Andes, Chile). Using an ethnographic observation scale, we engage with local actors' experiences during volcanic eruptions and quiescence. We identified three factors shaping people's decision to reoccupy volcanic territories: the reproduction of a peasant habitus, a stratigraphy of memories and the acceptability of volcanic risk. The results illustrate the construction of human–volcano interactions built over generations, framed in socio‐volcanic cycles faced from a habitus of precariousness. However, after recalling their past vulnerabilities, the community imagines overcoming the impacts of volcanism from a different habitus based on living as peasants in conditions of greater social equity. From this, we discuss how volcanic imaginaries interrogate the past, motivate a more accurate understanding of volcanic risk and support the projections of communities about their human–volcano coexistence despite exposure to hazards. Finally, we posit the concept of ethnovolcanology to understand the tension between place attachment and disaster risk as a persistent intersection of human and geological forces.

The Andean Southern Volcanic Zone: a review on the legacy of the latest volcanic eruptions

“…There are social processes related to diverse understandings of inhabiting volcanic territories, such as the existing local knowledge systems about volcanic activity (Ramos and Tironi, 2022) and disaster memory on past eruptions (Petit-Breuilh, 2004, 2023Vergara-Pinto and Marín, 2023;Walshe et al, 2023), which are highly valued for people to make sense of volcanic risk. Along with this, the societyvolcano coexistence includes uncertainties regarding unpredictable eruptive scenarios for populations and scientists (Vergara-Pinto and Romero, 2023).…”

Challenges for Sustainable Urban Planning: A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Complex Landslide Risk in a Latin American Megacity

“…Musset [33] affirmed that urban landslide risk scenarios were generated through historical processes framed in the imaginaries and power exercises of some social groups over others. These 'imaginaries' referred to the collective perceptions, symbolic constructions, and mental representations that a society had about the risks and hazards they faced [34,35], influencing how communities interpreted and responded to natural or human-induced hazards. Power exercises in urban planning, on the other hand, referred to the dynamics and processes through which individuals, groups, institutions, or governments influenced decision-making and the configuration of urban development [36,37].…”