The Atacama and Australian mining companies: identity, intercultural communication and negotiation in northern Chile (2010-2012)

Engagements between state, citizens and corporate groups as a result of mining activities are global phenomena but are significantly under-researched. The project will establish an ethnographic perspective on the dynamics of relations between Australian mining companies, citizens who make claims to land and waters as indigenous people, and the state in the Atacama region, northern Chile. Drawing on a background in the politics of resource ownership in Australia, the project provides comparative analyses of the practice of identity in mining projects for those involved. The research will seek to assist local negotiators, global business and state administration through plain language and academic reporting.