Toxicity and Environmental Racism:

Mapuche Resistance against the Boyeco Landfill, La Araucanía, Chile

Abstract

This article examines the processe s of resistance and social participation of Mapuche communities from the ancestral territory of Boyeco in response to the establishment of the Boyeco Landfill (1992–2016). T he unilateral and non-con sultative imposition of the project produced severe and lasting impacts on health, culture, local economies, and the environment. This gave rise to different stages of social and community organization, as well as the use of socio-legal strategies and protest methods to exert political influence , mitigate immediate impacts, and demand reparation the damags caused.Through a qualitative methodology that includes bibliographic review, the analysis of press, documents produced by the resisting communities and oral and written testimonies from Mapuche leaders, this research approaches Boyeco as a paradigmatic example of sacrificed territorialities, but also of resilience and the fight for environmental and territorial justice. This paper shows how these experiences of resistance against the commodification and exploitation of the territory and its inhabitants —led by Mapuche communities of Boyeco and other territories affected by similar practices of environmental racism—have strengthened community cohesion and their own forms of organization and protest, which remain active to this day