How sovereignty claims and “negative” emotions influence the process of subject-making: Evidence from a case of conflict over tree plantations from Southern Chile

We examine the conflict generated by industrial tree plantations in Mapuche territories in southern Chile to understand how emotions, power, and claims to sovereignty shape socio-environmental conflicts. We show how the state and private companies seek to consolidate extractivism through mechanisms of territorial control and subject formation, while Mapuche communities mobilize emotions such as anger and grief to strengthen resistance, reaffirm their sovereignty, and challenge dominant ways of inhabiting and governing their territories.