2025/08/17 by Anna Landherr · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Intellectual Property Law
paper · doi:10.2458/jpe.7106
openalex publication_date 2025/08/17 · openalex created_date 2025/08/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.The slow violence (Rob Nixon) arising from mining tailings in Chile spreads cumulatively, slowly and invisibly over time and space, without even those affected necessarily being aware of it. The toxic substances, which they contain in high concentrations, spread easily through water, soil and air, even entering the plants and the bodies of the surrounding population. In this way, they become part of food chains and entire ecosystems, threatening both livelihoods and local economies. This article is based on the theoretical conclusions of an empirical investigation of three cases of communities affected by mining tailings in Chile (Pabellón, Tierra Amarilla and Chañaral), conducted between 2014 and 2022, where not only the severity of the consequences of cumulative exposure in the medium and long term is made evident, but also its combination with other socio-ecological and economic inequalities, thus combining material invisibility with the social invisibility of those affected. This article will focus on the generation of knowledge and ignorance as one of the main factors that hinder or facilitate the perception of risk in the face of these phenomena of environmental slow violence, also determining the environmental (in-) action of the actors involved and the possibility of resistance on the part of those affected, analyzing the theoretical implications of the results of this study.