El imperio del Gaviotín Chico. Política y naturalezas en el litoral de Atacama

Abstract

The case of the Peruvian Tern (sternula lorata) and the Mejillones mega-port, inaugurated in 2002 (Antofagasta, Chile), constitute a paradigmatic case, simple and disconcerting at the same time, of the new forms of governance of nature that structure the contemporary landscapes of the Atacama Desert. The article retraces the recent history of the port complex and its eight coal-fired power plants and focuses on the strategy of conservation of the peruvian tern, the main vehicle of environmental mitigation implemented by the main companies of the Port and by the Municipality. The social construction process of the gaviotín chico is studied from the point of view of its natural reality. While the nests of the peruvian tern multiply in the conservation areas, everything around them has been declared an Environmental Sacrifice Zone. Thus, the case of the gaviotín chico constitutes an unexpected archive and a possible chronicle of the last twenty years of the coast of the Atacama Desert: here, in the Bahía de Mejillones, where the peruvian tern nests, where the dogs hunt offshore and the vultures sleep in coal-fired power plants, the laws of nature no longer govern, because there are other natures in formation.

Keywords

• anthropology of nature
• Atacama Desert
• wildlife conservation
• Peruvian Tern (sternula lorata)
• Puerto de Mejillones (Antofagasta
• Chile)