Abstract

This article analyzes conflict processes in the face of inequalities in the Chilean case, focusing on their socioecological dimension. It presents the results of a four-year qualitative investigation carried out in five territories subject to high levels of environmental degradation: Alto Loa, Arica, Bajos de Mena, Ventanas and Boyeco. Using an ethnographic methodology, we analyze processes through which people perceive this dimension of inequality and construct a grammar to understand it. This methodology recognizes that the intersection of variables that configure disadvantageous positions forms a violence that threatens life itself and its surroundings. The role of socio-environmental leaders within the territories is analyzed, particularly in regards to the construction of grammars of inequality, showing how the trajectory of the conflict is intertwined with fundamental aspects of their personal biography, transforming their identities across the globe.