WAVES: Documenting Women’s Activism in environmental Sacrifice Zones

WAVES explores and documents the activism of the organisation Women of Sacrifice Zones in Resistance in Quintero-Puchuncaví, Chile. These areas, severely impacted by industrial environmental degradation, disproportionately affect marginalised communities, particularly women. The project fills a research gap by examining the intersection of gender, environmental justice, and political activism in the Global South—an area often overlooked in favour of studies focused on the Global North. WAVES employs an innovative multimodal methodology combining Photovoice and participatory video, empowering women to document and narrate their experiences of environmental injustice. The project will produce a documentary, exhibited in Chile, the UK, and Spain, providing these women with a platform to intervene in public discourse, reshaping the representations of women activists in sacrifice zones. Beyond academia, WAVES aims to influence policy discussions, amplify marginalised voices, and strengthen community resilience, focuses on the social impacts of environmental degradation on women’s lives and highlights their strategies for resistance. The researcher will receive technical and theoretical training at the School of Film, Media, and Creative Technologies at the University of Portsmouth and the Anthropocene Research Centre at University College London, gaining competencies in Photovoice, participatory video, and theoretical frameworks on the social impact of environmental crises. This will reinforce European interdisciplinary networks, contributing to dialogue between the Global South and Europe. The name WAVES symbolises the ongoing efforts of women activists, whose actions—like the waves of the sea—continuously shape and influence both local and global environments, embodying resilience and transformation.It also refers to the maritime contexts of the research: Valparaíso, Portsmouth, London and Barcelona.