Women Seaweed Gatherers of Queilen (Chiloé, Chile)

This article seeks to rescue practices and knowledge from the perception of the women of Queilen about their collection work and their trajectories. Through a qualitative methodological approach, aiming to collect information, our team applied the ethnographic method with in-depth interviews. The research results show a deep imprint of the coastal tradition on the current economy, where women have a main role in the maintenance and transmission of the local knowledge, which is obtained from the historical connection with the sea, as a central aspect of the island family economies. The multiple uses of shellfish and algae, both locally (culinary, agricultural), have been affected by crises and booms in international markets, directly impacting production traditions around harvesting. This work makes rural women visible as bearers of cultural heritage, putting on the table the discussion about the definitions of work and their life trajectories between the rural and the urban. Concerning the shore harvesting specifically, there is a clear impact caused by the economic changes of global capitalism, affecting not only the forms of rural social organization but also disrupting the way in which human beings relate to nature.