Territories in socio-environmental crisis: opportunities and resistance from schools and rural communities in the Global South. Editorial.

Territories in socio-environmental crisis: opportunities and resistance from schools and rural communities in the Global South. Editorial.

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-Vol24-Issue3-fulltext-3607

Keywords:

editorial, thematic section, socio-environmental crisis, Global South

Abstract

The rural world of Latin America is undergoing significant transformations that are paving the way for renewed tensions, as well as for potentialities and possible futures. We find ourselves in a critical context marked by environmental crises and their influence on ways of living, in which the sociocultural transformations associated with these conflicts make it increasingly difficult to separate the environmental from the social. The notion of socio-environmental crisis is used to refer both to environmental alterations caused by human activities involving the extraction and exploitation of natural resources, and to the socio-political and cultural conflicts that emerge in each territory in relation to these processes. This thematic section, based on the notion of sustainability, which allows us to understand how schools and community organizations in rural contexts become spaces for exchange and opportunity, invites us to reflect on how territories in crisis can be strengthened by the discourses, strategies, and practices that communities and schools promote in relation to environmental sustainability. Researchers located in rural areas of Mexico, Peru, and Chile have responded to this call with a total of 10 articles. In addition, we include three articles on free topics that address, respectively, bipolar disorder, qualitative research with the deaf-signing community, and the situation of children included in the Chilean alternative care system.

Author Biographies

Javiera Pavez Mena, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

PhD in Psychology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso; Psychologist from the same university. Her research projects address social policies, especially in the field of social policy for children and the tensions faced by those who implement them. She works with community-based organizations using ethnographic and participatory approaches.

Jacqueline Espinoza-Ibacache, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

Academic, School of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV). Doctorate in the Doctoral Program in People and Society in the Contemporary World and Master's Degree in Psychosocial Research and Intervention from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Master's Degree in Community Psychology from the University of Chile. Extraordinary Doctorate Award for the 2018-2019 academic year. Doctoral Program in People and Society in the Contemporary World, Department of Social Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Manuela García Quiroga, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

PhD in Psychology from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Master's degree in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. Psychologist, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. Her research interests relate to childhood and public policy, particularly those focused on alternative care (residential care and foster care), emotional bonds, and child participation.

Carmen Gloria Núñez Muñoz, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

Psychologist, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. Doctor of Education Sciences,
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Université Bordeaux 2 Victor
Segalen. Director and Academic at the School of Psychology at the Pontifical Catholic University
of Valparaíso. Member of the National Network of
Universities for Rural Education (RUCHER).

Sara Joiko, Universidad de las Américas

Sociologist and PhD in Sociology and Educational Policy from University College London. Her work combines participatory socio-community tools with border studies and critical interculturality. Her research projects and publications aim to highlight educational policies, discourses, and practices towards migrant children, adolescents, and families in urban and rural contexts, both in formal and informal education. She is also a member of Rizoma Intercultural, a non-profit organization that promotes the inclusion of migrants in Chile through research, social intervention, training, and networking with other migrant and pro-migrant organizations.

References

Acosta, A. (2013). Extractivism and neoextractivism: Two sides of the same curse. In M. Lang & D. Mokrani, (Eds). Beyond development: alternative visions from Latin America (pp. 61-86). Luxemburg/Abya Yala Ediciones.

Amin, S. (2019). The long revolution of the global South: Towards a new anti-imperialism inter- national. Monthly Review Press.

Bengoa, J. (2003). 25 años de estudios rurales. Sociologias, 5(10), 36-98. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-45222003000200004

Cárcamo, H. (2016). Microcentros de escuelas rurales de la provincia de Ñuble, Chile: representaciones que posee el profesorado respecto de su impacto en el quehacer pedagógico en el escenario de la nueva ruralidad. Sinéctica, 47. https://www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/sine/n47/2007-7033-sine-47-00010.pdf

Chang, C. H. (2023). Climate change Education: Knowing, doing and being. (2nd ed.) Routledge.

Dunlap, A. (2020). Wind, coal, and copper: The politics of land grabbing, counterinsurgency, and the social engineering of extraction. Globalizations, 17(4), 661-682.

Fernández, R., Lauxmann, C., & Trevignani, M. (2014). Emergencia del Sur Global: perspectivas para el desarrollo de la periferia latinoamericana. Economia e Sociedade, 23(3), 611-643. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-06182014000300003

Figueroa, N. (2025, 16 enero). Tras las huellas de Julia Chuñil, defensora ambiental mapuche. Revista Anfibia. https://n9.cl/i89wx

Global Witness. (2017). Defenders of the earth: global killings of land and environmental defenders in 2016.

Gudynas, E. (2010). The new extractivism of the 21st century: ten urgent theses about extractivism in relation to current South American progressivism. Americas Program Report. Center for International Policy. https://postdevelopment.net/2010/02/19/new-extractivism-of-the-21st-century-10-urgent-theses

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (IPCC, 2023). Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. (IDMC, 2022). Global Report on Internal Displacement 2022. https://www.internal-displacement.org/global-report/grid2022/

Kates, R. W., Clark, W. C., Corell, R., Hall, J. M., Jaeger, C. C., Lowe, I., McCarthy, J. J., Schellnhuber, H. J., Bolin, B., Dickson, N. M., Faucheux, S., Gallopin, G. C., Grübler, A., Huntley, B., Jäger, B., Jodha, N. S., Kasperson, R. E., Mabogunje, A., Matson, P., Mooney, H., Moore III, B., O'Riordan, T., & Svedin, U. Sustainability science. Science, 292, 641-642. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1059386

Mardones, R. (2022). Influencia social minoritaria frente a la crisis socioambiental: Comunidades intencionales ecológicas en espacios rurales. Psicoperspectivas, 21(3). https://dx.doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-vol21-issue3-fulltext-2724

Medellín Milán, P., & Nieto-Caraveo, L. M. (2000). La producción de conocimiento sobre la sostenibilidad: tópicos emergentes. En La Educación Superior ante los desafíos de la sustentabilidad, Vol. 3 (pp. 77-88). ANUIES-SEMARNAP-Universidad de Guadalajara. https://ambiental.uaslp.mx/historico/docs/PMMyLMNC-AN-00-ANUIESSost.pdf

Mora, S. Y. (2016). Capitalismo, crisis y naturaleza. Un análisis del acaparamiento de tierras dentro y desde el Sur Global. Relaciones Internacionales, 33, 53-73. https://doi.org/10.15366/relacionesinternacionales2016.33.003

Ramírez-Miranda, C. (2014). Critical reflections on the New Rurality and the rural territorial development approaches in Latin America. Agronomía Colombiana, 32(1), 122-129. https://doi.org/10.15446/agron.colomb.v32n1.41218

Romero, J. (2012). Lo rural y la ruralidad en América Latina: categorías conceptuales en debate. Psicoperspectivas, 11(1), 8-31. https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-Vol11-Issue1-fulltext-176

Romero Toledo, H., Videla, A., & Gutiérrez, F. (2017). Explorando conflictos entre comunidades indígenas y la industria minera en Chile: las transformaciones socioambientales de la región de Tarapacá y el caso de Lagunillas. Estudios Atacameños, 55, 231-250. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-10432017005000019

Smart, S. (2020). The political economy of Latin American conflicts over mining extractivism. The Extractive Industries and Society, 7(2), 767-779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.02.004

Suša, O. (2019). Global dynamics of socio-environmental crisis: dangers on the way to a sustainable future. Civitas: Revista de Ciências Sociais, 19(2), 315-336. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-7289.2019.2.31969

UNESCO (2007). El agua y los pueblos indígenas. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000145353_spa

Uribe-Sierra, S. E., Panez-Pinto, A., Toscana-Aparicio, A., & Mansilla-Quiñones, P. (2023). Mining, development and unequal regionalization in subnational Latin American contexts. The Extractive Industries and Society, 13, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2022.101209

Downloads

Published

2025-11-15

How to Cite

Pavez Mena, J., Espinoza-Ibacache, J., García Quiroga, M., Núñez Muñoz, C. G., & Joiko, S. (2025). Territories in socio-environmental crisis: opportunities and resistance from schools and rural communities in the Global South. Editorial. Psicoperspectivas, 24(3). https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-Vol24-Issue3-fulltext-3607

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 3 (2025): Territories in socio-environmental crisis

Section

Editorial

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Revista Psicoperspectivas

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

All manuscript will be published under the Creative Commons 4.0 International License.