R-existing in a saturated water body: hydrofeminist textile approach to Mallolafken, Chile

Purpose Lake Villarrica, also known as Mallolafken in Mapuzungun (the Mapuche language), is the first body of water in Chile to be declared a saturated zone. This means that the lake has become eutrophic due to excessive inputs of phosphorus and nitrates from activities such as aquaculture, livestock farming, forestry and agriculture, exacerbated by inadequate wastewater treatment. This condition has resulted in toxic algal blooms that pose risks to human health and ecosystems. Mallolafken, part of the hydrosocial territory of the Toltén River, is located in the Araucanía, a region marked by the dispossession of Indigenous lands and historical processes of capitalist expansion. These dynamics have profoundly affected the livelihoods and traditional ways of life of peasant and Mapuche communities. This article explores how lake pollution mirrors broader hydrosocial inequalities affecting women, whose lived, embodied experiences of water scarcity, contamination and everyday struggles for access shape their concerns and reveal interdependent relationships with water. These lived, bodily experiences challenge human-nature dualisms and unveil the political and affective entanglements between women and aquatic ecosystems. Using a feminist political ecology (FPE) framework and hydrofeminist counter-mapping of the Retxiküra stone and the Limawe stream – which crosses the urban area of Villarrica and flows into the lake – this study presents the results of a participatory action research process co-designed and co-written by researchers, artists and members of the NGO Retxiküra del Mallolafken. The findings highlight how women’s knowledge and bodily experiences reveal the socio-ecological harms produced by extractivist policies that commodify water while rendering invisible the struggles of those most affected. By attending to women’s embodied knowledge and collective action, this article argues that their resistance to water pollution and dispossession constitutes acts of r-existence, reclaiming alternative ways of relating to water beyond capitalist and colonial logics. Design/methodology/approach Using a FPE framework and hydrofeminist counter-mapping of the Retxiküra stone and the Limawe stream – which crosses the urban area of Villarrica and flows into the lake – this study explores water conflicts and collaborative action proposals that bring together women from Villarrica. Findings The findings highlight how women’s knowledge and bodily experiences reveal the socio-ecological damages of extractivist policies that commodify water while rendering invisible the struggles of those most affected. By centring women’s voices, this article argues that their resistance to water pollution and dispossession constitutes acts of r-existence, reclaiming alternative ways of relating to water beyond capitalist and colonial logics. Originality/value This manuscript offers an original contribution by advancing a hydrofeminist textile methodology to analyse water justice in Villarrica, Chile. While existing research examines eutrophication, extractivism or gendered water inequalities separately, this study uniquely integrates FPE, hydrofeminism and textile counter-mapping to foreground women’s embodied, affective and relational engagements with degraded water bodies. By centring the Limawe stream and the Retxiküra stone, the article reveals overlooked socioecological conflicts and introduces r-existence as a lens to understand women’s territorial defence. The resulting hydrofeminist textile counter-map constitutes a novel analytical and political device within water governance research.