Collective action, socio-environmental conservation, and territory defense in marine environments. practices of resistance and affectionate environmental knowledge of women in Ensenada, Baja California

Abstract

There are very few research studies that show the links of women from coastal communities with their territory and marine ecosystem, and that make visible the key role they play in times of socioecological and environmental crisis (waste dumping, water scarcity, fishing bans, privatization of beaches, or destruction of coastal ecosystems). Based on organizational experiences, this article aims to approach the nature and scope of citizen mobilization in the face of socioecological problems and the practices of socioenvironmental injustice that Ensenada, in northern Mexico, has been suffering from for years. I aim to show the relationships established by different groups of women organized around the defense of marine and coastal resources. I start by highlighting the practices of care and socioenvironmental rescue carried out by these women and considering them as forms of political intervention. It is from here that I present this text in which I attempt to build a conversation from the voices of different women who speak to us about the activities of resistance, rescue, socioenvironmental conservation, and biocultural participation carried out in Ensenada, Baja California. It is a vindication of the importance of the memories, knowledge, and practices generated in the local, community, and bodily sentipensamiento of these women.