Drawing on two research experiences with socio-environmental organizations in central and southern Chile, this article aims to engage in a critical feminist and collaborative reflexivity on ethnographic work with territorial and socio-environmental movements. This approach is characterized, among other aspects, by a redefinition of the researcher's positionality and a critical engagement with decolonial theoretical and methodological frameworks.
Through an examination of two ethnographic experiences located in Chile – Panguipulli (Los Ríos region) and Quintero-Puchuncaví (Valparaíso region) – we propose pathways that support processes of hydrofeminization in territories marked by inequalities rooted in capitalist extractivist economies.
The findings suggest that hydrofeminisms contribute to challenging organizational ethnographic research by reconfiguring its methods and adding essential collaborative practices.
These collaborative practices grounded in critiques of the patriarchy, extractive economies and the colonial production of knowledge help ethnographers engage in a two way exchange of knowledge: not only seeing the fieldwork as a source of data collection but also offering informed insights to the communities where they get embedded; not only recognizing patriarchal and extractivist structures but also actively participating with the communities against this social and economic oppressions.
