The Patagonian Imaginary: Natural Resources and Global Capitalism at the Far End of the World

Alpine Masculinity: A Gendered Figuration of Capital in the Patagonian Andes

“…Elite conservationists prevailed upon Argentine politicians to establish a protected area system managed by a national park agency. Recognising the Patagonian Andes as Argentina's version of the Swiss Alps, Administración de Parques Nacionales (APN; National Parks Administration) officials sought to transform the borderlands through foreign tourism‐led development based on selling an ‘alpine’ wilderness aesthetic (Mendoza et al, ). Since the 1930s, Patagonian parks have been incorporated into the global consumer aesthetic of alpine landscape that includes the Himalayas, the Southern Alps, Peruvian Andes, Canadian Rockies, and the European Alps.…”

“…The ecotourism industry in Andean Patagonia has grown dramatically since the 1990s as a result of increasing integration into the global tourism market. With the decline of geopolitical tensions between Argentina and Chile, a new regionalism has flourished along the primary tourism circuit that connects national parks on both sides of the border (Mendoza et al, ). Expanding tourism revenues have recruited growing numbers of new residents to Andean communities, often from outside Patagonia.…”

Flagging the nations: Citizens’ active engagements with everyday nationalism in Patagonia, Chile

“…Given the geopolitical tensions generated by territorial disputes between Argentina and Chile, most pronounced in Patagonia during the 1970s and 1980s when both countries were ruled by military dictatorships (Mendoza et al., ), it is perhaps surprising that such regional solidarity has endured (Amigo, ). In similar ways to Radcliffe's work on the equally sensitive Ecuador–Peru frontier in the 1990s, the responses of citizens in Aysén hint at “the complex ways in which subjects construct, negotiate and challenge the affiliations to national territories” (, p. 275).…”

“…There was a sense of mourning and despair driven by citizens’ perceptions of regional decline that had been exacerbated by the neglect of the Chilean state over the long term, as well as shorter term dismay at the violent response of security forces sent to quell the disturbances. Respondents referred to what they considered to be state attempts to kill off the region, highlighting how large tracts of land had been sold to private investors under the guise of conservation or eco‐tourism (see, e.g., Holmes, ; Mendoza et al., ). In their eyes, the state was willing to intervene in and profit from the region when it suited, but local people rarely reaped the benefits.…”

Popular Philanthrocapitalism? The Potential and Pitfalls of Online Empowerment in “Free” Nature 2.0 Initiatives

“…By analyzing these media as a form of "philanthrocapitalism" (Bishop & Green, 2008;Edwards, 2008;Farrell, 2015;Holmes, 2012;Kapoor, 2012), we demonstrate how such dynamics should be understood in relation to the diffusion of neoliberal capitalist values through nature 2.0 spaces. In this way, we situate nature 2.0 within a longer history of interaction between philanthropy and capitalism, on the one hand, and nature conservation, on the other (see, for example, Dempsey, 2016;Goodman, Litter, Brockington, & Boykoff, 2016;Mendoza, Fletcher, Holmes, & Ogden, 2017;Ramutsindela, Spierenburg, & Wels, 2011), via which nature has been commodified and depoliticized in various ways.…”