Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose an ethnographic discussion surrounding the sociocultural dimensions of the contemporary economy, using the dynamics of monoculture expansion into the indigenous territories of South-Central Chile as an empirical reference. Design/methodology/approach From an ethnographic approach, the paper systematizes some ideas about the difference and inequality that have redrafted the current relationships between forestry companies and Mapuche communities within the context of international certification of forestry management. Findings Findings indicate that difference and inequality, are today managed from global economic rationality and their control impacts directly on quotidian life of diverse and unequal territories. Considering this, this paper gets to conclude that these conditions, while never ceasing to deepen their expression, have been recrafted from the new references of the global economy. Research limitations/implications For the critical ethnographic approach to be applied, it is necessary to design and implement wide access, which means this type of study usually has limitations when not being able to get to every scale of economic development. For this reason, it is important to keep the methodological discussion, about the ethnography of the economy. Originality/value The study puts in perspective intercultural relations and the inequality of territories in the framework of the global economy. Illustrates how the managing of the international market of wood and pulp design and insides in local quotidian life systems.