Perceptions of Nature in Cordillera and Urban Settings in Cultural Transitions of Colla Communities From Northern Chile

How people face changes in their lives depends on a series of factors, encompassing individual (cognitive, psychological and emotional) and collective (i.e., cultural) aspects, which originate positive and negative perceptions that help individuals organize the reality around them. These perceptions are of crucial importance in processes involving cultural transitions of indigenous communities as the former may influence life-changing decisions and the communities’ cultural identity. This is the case of the indigenous communities of Collas in the northern region of Atacama (Chile) who, for several reasons, have, over the last decades, migrated back and forth between the Cordillera 1 and the city. In this paper, we investigate the positive and negative perceptions of nature for both, the Cordillera and the city, settings as a fundamental aspect of Collas’ identity, and discuss the similarities and differences of these perceptions according to participants’ geographical location, age and gender.