What are we fighting for? Rethinking resistance in a Pewenche community in Chile

The contradictory reactions by members of an indigenous group in southern Chile to the prospect of their displacement by a hydroelectric dam presents an opportunity to reconceptualize ‘resistance’, studies of which have come under increasing attack in recent years. Using this case, I explore contemporary perspectives on ‘subaltern’ struggle and propose an alternative framework for the interpretation of this phenomenon that seeks to salvage a viable conception of ‘resistance’ for future study. I argue that resistance studies’ current critique finds the bulk of its substance in deficiencies of the ‘everyday forms of resistance’ paradigm presently dominating the field and offer a tentative outline of ways in which the field might be reconceived so as to transcend this paradigm and direct the study of resistance into more productive arenas.