The recent interest in the role of transport in social interactions has been partly motivated by the hope of achieving a better understanding of the role that transport plays in network capital, or the resources that people can gather from their social networks. Despite the relevancy of this question for policy, little empirical work has been done to elucidate this relationship. This paper illustrates a method of data collection and analysis, using the social networks approach to assess the role of transport in social support, both emotional and material. The personal networks of two neighbourhoods in Concepción, Chile, with different income levels, are compared, focusing on the role of car ownership in network capital, and the relevance of the time and space characteristics of social contacts. The results suggest that having a car at home does not lead to homogeneous access to network capital, which depends heavily on the kind of social resource studied and the income context (neighbourhood) in which the individuals are embedded. The findings also underscore the need to treat social capital as a truly multidimensional concept and the usefulness of the personal networks approach for assessing these complex relationships.

This paper explores the meaning of globalization in rural places, as well as the emergence of rural globalities, and even of rural cosmopolitanisms. While the discussion about globalization has been mainly localized in urban places, and mostly in some core cities, rural places are also intertwined with globality, and can became important nodes in the production and circulation of capital, culture, and ideology. To account for this, I explore a new meaning for the concept of ‘global villages’, not used in McLuhan's sense, but rather in terms of rural places that become truly global. As case studies, the paper addresses three ‘global villages’ in Latin America: the Central Valley in Chile, a node in the global food system; Otavalo in Ecuador, a core of cultural representations; and La Realidad, in Chiapas, Mexico, a center of ideological production.

A partir de una serie de investigaciones que han puesto el foco en la movilidad cotidiana de las personas y otras específicamente enfocadas al cuidado se han podido identificar categorías relevantes al momento de entender, desde los espacios relacionales evidenciados por la movilidad, las espacialidades del cuidado. Por medio de etnografías móviles, fue posible mostrar aquellas negociaciones, gestiones, objetos y espacios que permiten cuidar en la ciudad. Las categorías resultantes develan seis dimensiones: los sujetos de cuidados, sus prácticas, lugares, materialidades y objetos, temporalidades y afectos que sostienen los cuidados en ciudades como Santiago, Concepción o Temuco. Al entenderlos desde la perspectiva del espacio relacional, es posible visualizar la complejidad que implica cuidar y, al mismo tiempo, la necesidad de espacio que tienen, el que va más allá del espacio doméstico. Esta propuesta contribuye a la importancia de la espacialización de los cuidados al momento de pensar en formas de desfamiliarización y colectivización de los cuidados en general. Esto es particularmente relevante hoy, ya que la pandemia del COVID-19 relevó la realidad material de los cuidados de manera tangible, y nos instó, además, a replantearnos el cómo nos cuidaremos entre humanos y no humanos en el futuro.

The agro-ecology and food sovereignty movements of southern Chile promote alternatives to the hegemonic agro-export regime that dominates the landscape. We explore these mobilizations and the strategies they employ, with a particular focus on a network of peasant women “seed curators.” The global agri-food complex relies on a flat and universalizing spatiality of land as resource and food as commodity, in which the character and fate of individual places is of little importance. This is paired with a hierarchical monopolization of knowledge, where producers become recipients rather than creators and custodians of agricultural inputs and know-how. In response, peasant movements have given birth to alternative spatial practices based on horizontal networks that join together interdependent producers and places. By sharing traditional and agro-ecological knowledge, cultivating alternate circuits of exchange, and building urban–rural partnerships, these movements seek to reshape the horizons of possibility both for peasant communities and for the broader agri-food system.

Species diagnosis is essential to assess the level of mislabeling or misnamed seafood products such as sushi. In Chile, sushi typically includes salmon as the main ingredient, but species used are rarely declared on the menu. In order to identify which species are included in the Chilean sushi market, we analyzed 84 individual sushi rolls sold as “salmon” from sushi outlets in ten cities across Chile. Using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism protocol (PCR-RFLP), we identified mislabeled and misnamed products. Atlantic salmon was the most common salmonid fish used in sushi, followed by coho salmon, rainbow trout, and Chinook salmon. We found a total of 23% and 18% of the products were mislabeled and misnamed, respectively. In 64% of cases, the salesperson selling the product could not identify the species. We also identified the use of wild-captured Chinook salmon samples from a naturalized population. Our results provide a first indication regarding species composition in Chilean sushi, a quantification of mislabeling and the level of misinformation declared by sales people to consumers. Finally, considering that Chinook salmon likely originates from a non-licensed origin and that sushi is an uncooked product, proper identification in the food production chain may have important consequences for the health of consumers.

La investigación, tiene entre sus objetivos, describir cómo se expresan las capacidades de afrontamiento de la resiliencia comunitaria en relación al sentido de comunidad en trece familias de la comuna de Talcahuano-Chile, durante el periodo de respuesta y recuperación al desastre del terremoto y tsunami del año 2010. Se optó por un diseño exploratorio cualitativo de carácter transversal bajo una lógica de observación ex-post. A los casos de estudio se les aplica una entrevista semi-estructurada, cuyos discursos son examinados utilizando el Análisis Estructural de Contenido y el Modelo Actancial de la Semántica Estructural. Se concluye que la resiliencia comunitaria es un proceso que emerge en vinculación con el sentido de comunidad, expresado en el compromiso por el bienestar de la comunidad del lugar y en la participación comunitaria en acciones colectivas. Estas son condicionantes sociales que facilitan o limitan la adaptación organizativa de la comunidad y el surgimiento de comportamientos colaborativos, en función de resolver los problemas con mayor rapidez y con el mejor desempeño en el uso de los recursos del territorio.