Landscapes of maritime-coastal complexity: Territorial actors, dynamics and scenarios in the Quinchao district, Chiloé Island

Abstract

This paper explores the emergence of socio-territorial landscapes in a specific contextual setting: the interior sea of Chiloé (Gulf of Corcovado and Gulf of Ancud) and more specifically, the archipelago in the Quinchao District. Using a theoretical model that includes reflections and ideas from various disciplines of knowledge (philosophy, social ecology, anthropology and geography) brought together under four theoretical concepts (Complexity, Subsistence Strategies, Ways of Inhabiting and Landscapes), it attempts to answer the following question: What landscapes emerge in the Quinchao District, Chiloé Island, from the changes experienced/perceived in subsistence strategies and ways of inhabiting?

Strategically, the authors have decided to operate on the basis of specific reference units and focus on some forms of socioenvironmental interaction as referents of human activity on space, such as traditional activities in the Areas of Management and Exploitation of Benthic Resources (AMERB’s) and in the salmon aquaculture industry.

The main objective of this work is to elucidate processes of construction of maritime-coastal landscapes by investigating two hypotheses:

i) there are territorial emergencies in socio-spatial relations due to the establishment of the salmon industry that update subsistence strategy options and ways of inhabiting;

ii) there are fundamental elements in the construction of landscapes that are closely linked to the process of “afford” or enaction, which make it possible to recognize the environment´s different identities.