Abstract

PRIETO, Manuel. Compromising Water, Producing Indigenous Identities and Territories: The Chilean Water Model and the Atacameño People of Calama. rev.estud.soc. [online]. 2016, n.55, pp.88-103. ISSN 0123-885X.  https://doi.org/10.7440/res55.2016.06.

The Chilean Water Code of 1981 is a radical case of implementation of free market policies. In the Atacama Desert, the Atacameño people of the city of Calama have mobilized their indigenous identity and traditional celebrations within the context of the imposition of this code. Using a political ecology framework, in this article I examine how their claims, in opposition to the neoliberal model of water exploitation, are interwoven with the process of identity formation, traditions, and market behavior. For this purpose, I have studied transactions of water rights and conducted interviews of urban leaders. The results bring into question the neoliberal hypothesis that water rights flow towards the uses of greatest economic value within a free market.

Keywords : Chile (Thesaurus); Atacameño people; neoliberalism; water markets; indigeneity (Author's Keywords).

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