Cristóbal Bonelli gave a talk at the Universidad Diego Portales, Chile

Cristóbal Bonelli, Principal Investigator of the ERC-funded project Worlds of Lithium, was invited by the Institute for Social Sciences Research (ICSO) at Universidad Diego Portales (UDP) to speak at the "Cultural and Climate Crisis" lecture series held in Santiago, Chile. Bonelli delivered a talk titled "Critical Materialities: Conceptual Creativity in Times of Crisis."

In his presentation, Bonelli explored the transformative power of ethnographic concepts as essential tools for addressing contemporary crises through a situated and grounded approach. He highlighted his work in northern Chile with the concept of microdisasters, which brings attention to the destruction of microbial ecologies in endangered salt flats impacted by extractivist activities. Additionally, he discussed his research in southern Chile centered on Mollvbun, a Mapudungun term for "blood," which he interprets as a "relational capacity" rather than merely a biological substance.

Bonelli described these concepts as "concrete abstractions" that retain the strength of the places where they are conceived, producing real-world impacts ranging from environmental legal disputes to cultural and political debates. Notably, the concept of microdisasters has recently been used in the legal defense of the Salar de Surire in Chile.

The lecture concluded with an invitation to embrace conceptual creativity as a critical tool for reimagining agency and fostering transformative alliances amidst global crises. The "Cultural and Climate Crisis" lecture series, organized by ICSO-UDP, aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue on the cultural dimensions of the climate crisis. For more details about the event, visit this link.