Defensa de la vida: More-than-human care as resistance against the threats of mega-projects at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico

• This paper examines how women defend their lives against the Interoceanic Corridor within the context of violence. • The research participants highlight the significance of advocating for practices that prioritise care and preservation. • The women defend their way of life and daily practices, turning life itself into a form of resistance. • It is important to avoid romanticising their dual responsibilities of providing care and contributing to the resistance. • The analysis highlights how caring for more-than-human beings emerges as vital form of resistance and sustains the struggle . This paper examines practices of resistance to the Interoceanic Corridor mega-project in southern Mexico, focusing on how women 1 1 When I use the term “women”, I refer to people who identify as female, understanding gender identity as a social category. Juchitán is also well known for Muxes , who are a third Indigenous gender. are defending their lives in the face of violence from the extractive mega-infrastructure project’s impact on their territories and bodies. The mega-infrastructure project’s objective is to unite the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. By promoting regional development and modern progress, the Interoceanic Corridor has engendered discontent and instigated protests among the Indigenous and local communities. These resistance movements at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are part of broader national and international initiatives aimed at safeguarding territorio (territory) threatened by neoliberal development and mega-projects. Engaging with feminist decolonial epistemology, this paper investigates the notion of defensa de la vida (defence of life) and explores how life itself becomes a form of resistance, manifesting through care for human and more-than-human beings. Based on ethnographic fieldwork between 2021 and 2023, including interviews, observations and workshops with women from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, this paper illustrates how women defend their territorio and lives. This resistance is embodied in their embrace of community, their reciprocal care for more-than-human beings and their daily practices, rituals and celebrations. By tracing these multiple practices of care as mundane forms of everyday resistance, this paper broadens the conception of resistance through care by including a more-than-human dimension.