In this paper, we examine small hydropower trends in Chile through institutional and ethnographic research and we reflect on what lessons this case provides for scholarship on the water–energy nexus. Contrary to the tendency in water–energy nexus scholarship to advocate for further integration of water and energy management, this paper explains an approach to investigation that answers recent calls to politicize the nexus by examining inequity and inefficiency. Methodologically, we trace institutional surprises in water–energy nexus interactions. Internationally, small hydropower growth is part of a boom in renewable energy, yet in Chile the reality is more complicated. We examine the paradoxical trend of hundreds of stalled small hydropower projects that remain incomplete throughout central to southern Chile. These stalled projects indicate unexpected behavior in how water, energy, and environmental institutions interact, in Mapuche Indigenous territory specifically where projects are highly conflictive. A fantastical materialism is also visible. Government and private sector ambitions of organized, massive, and lucrative small hydropower development are resulting in unruly material realities, yet over time capital finds an unforeseen way to produce value. In this case, water rights are being sold with approved environmental impact studies on the water market. Overall, our findings challenge the assumptions that commodifying water can be done equitably and efficiently for all parties involved, in particular for the Mapuche people. Findings also question hydropower’s future viability as a sustainable renewable energy endeavor in a market-driven system.

PurposeThe authors use media research and crowdsourced mapping to document how the first wave of the pandemic (April–August 2020) affected the Mapuche, focussing on seven categories of events: territorial control, spiritual defence, food sovereignty, traditional health practices, political violence, territorial needs and solidarity, and extractivist expansion.Design/methodology/approachResearch on the effects of the pandemic on the Mapuche and their territories is lacking; the few existing studies focus on death and infection rates but overlook how the pandemic interacts with ongoing processes of extractivism, state violence and community resistance. The authors’ pilot study addresses this gap through a map developed collaboratively by disaster scholars and Mapuche journalists.FindingsThe map provides a spatial and chronological overview of this period, highlighting the interconnections between the pandemic and neocolonialism. As examples, the authors focus on two phenomena: the creation of “health barriers” to ensure local territorial control and the state-supported expansion of extractive industries during the first months of the lockdown.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors intersperse our account of the project with reflections on its limitations and, specifically, on how colonial formations shape the research. Decolonising disaster studies and disaster risk reduction practice, the authors argue, is an ongoing process, bound to be flawed and incomplete but nevertheless an urgent pursuit.Originality/valueIn making this argument, the paper responds to the Disaster Studies Manifesto that inspires this special issue, taking up its invitation to scholars to be more reflexive about their research practice and to frame their investigations through grounded perspectives.

En 1981, en Chile se creó la figura legal de Derechos de Aprovechamiento de Agua (DAA) consuntivos y no consuntivos, la que dio paso al proceso de commoditización del agua y el consecuente “mercado del agua”. Desde esa fecha, múltiples investigaciones han estudiado la evolución y las características del mercado de los DAA, pero centrados en los de carácter consuntivo en la zona norte y central de Chile. En este artículo presentamos y analizamos inéditamente las principales características del mercado de DAA no consuntivos en el sur de Chile (dos comunas de la Región de Los Ríos), donde Organizaciones de Usuarios y la agricultura de riego no son predominantes en relación con el uso de agua, sino más bien el uso hidroeléctrico. Además, demostramos que, en contrario de los mercados de DAA consuntivos, la escasez de agua no es el factor más importante que explica que este mercado haya sido tan activo en los últimos 10 años (2007-2016), sino que la configuración geográfica y económica propia de cada derecho, donde cuestiones como el caudal, desnivel, ubicación de cada DAA, así como estudios ambientales e ingenieriles asociado a cada DAA, son determinantes para hacer atractivos en el mercado estos derechos. Esta investigación aporta al entendimiento sobre cómo los mercados de agua operan en áreas con un desarrollo de Minicentrales hidroeléctricas (MCH) concentrado, incorporando el Nexo Agua-Energía en su análisis.

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