Ecology, speciesism, and social conflict: theoretical and practical challenges for the development of ecolinguistics in Latin America

Abstract The history of Latin America, from its independence movements to the era of neoliberal policies, can be read as a series of social and ecological conflicts. Latin American environmentalism emerged alongside social and territorial conflicts, arising as a political response to the extractivist model. In contrast, animal advocacy developed as an ethical-normative movement with a distinct genealogy, less rooted in grassroots social struggles. This divergence shapes their different political and strategic trajectories, despite potential convergences in critiquing society-nature relations. This article examines the relationship between social conflict and the separate emergence of environmental and animal rights movements, exploring how social sciences – particularly critical discourse analysis – have addressed them. I argue that the history of social conflict has linked ecology to a view of nature as a resource, explaining why ecological-capitalist perspectives still prevail in Latin American social sciences. Meanwhile, animal rights movements, grounded in ethical traditions from law and philosophy, face challenges in large-scale assimilation. Finally, I contend that ecolinguistics can bridge these approaches by discursively reformulating humanity’s role in the ecosystem.