Dr. C.R. (Cristobal) Bonelli
Associate Professor, Principal Investigator ERC Starting Grant "Worlds of Lithium"
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Programme group: Anthropology of Health, Care and the Body
Area of expertise: Lithium and Energy Transitions, Mental Health and Cultural Practices, Interdisciplinary Experimentation, Memory and Materiality
Visiting address
- Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
Postal address
Contact details
Social media
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Profile
Cristóbal Bonelli is a clinical psychologist and anthropologist whose work spans mental health, energy transitions, political violence, and environmental change. With a unique ability to bridge clinical practice and academic inquiry, Cristóbal explores how singular events and relations illuminate broader socio-material transformations in contested territories.
As Principal Investigator of the ERC-funded Worlds of Lithium project, Cristóbal leads comparative research in Chile, China, and Norway, examining how global decarbonization strategies reshape local ecologies, livelihoods, and geopolitical landscapes. His work brings fresh perspectives on the entanglements of memory, materiality, and relationality, offering innovative ways to understand the socio-environmental impacts of energy transitions.
Cristóbal’s dual background as a systemic psychotherapist and anthropologist shapes his interdisciplinary approach, enabling him to engage deeply with the lived realities of individuals and communities. This unique combination allows him to craft conceptual frameworks that bridge practical and theoretical domains, addressing complex societal and environmental challenges with both rigor and creativity.
His research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, Mobilities, Sociology, and Anthropological Theory, among many others. Cristóbal has also been invited to present his work at institutions such as the University of Oxford, UCL, UC Davis, and EHESS, where his contributions have sparked interdisciplinary dialogues and fostered new collaborations.
At the core of Cristóbal’s work is a commitment to rethinking how lives and landscapes transform in the Anthropocene. Through mentoring students, engaging in interdisciplinary projects, and teaching psychotherapy internationally, he envisions more just and habitable planetary futures grounded in the particularities of lived experiences and the relational dynamics of diverse worlds.
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Research
Currently, Cristobal leads the ERC project titled 'Worlds of Lithium,' investigating the societal impacts of lithium extraction and lithium-ion batteries in global energy transition efforts. Through empirical studies in Chile, China, and Norway, the project sheds light on our interdependence and co-constitution with these materials and technologies, exploring their transformative implications within the complexities of modern life in times of climate change.
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Teaching
Postgraduate level
- The Politics of Sustainability: Environments, Cultures, Materials / Multispecies ecologies and Planetary Matter
Undergraduate level
- Environments, Alterities and the Anthropological Imagination / Practicing Etnography / Ethnographies and academic writing
I am also Supervisor at the Master on Cultural and Social Anthropology, at the Research Master's in Social Sciences, at the Master in International Development Studies and at the Master in Medical Anthropology and Sociology
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Publications
2024
- Bonelli, C. R., & Gamba, M. (2024). Underground Roots for Ancestral Futures: Exploring Lithium Through an Experimental Alliance between Chemistry and Anthropology. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 1-27. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/01622439241278377
Bonelli, C., Galaz-Mandakovic, D., Weinberg, M., Figueroa, V., & Hecht, G. (2024). Cenizas del Antropoceno: omisiones de carbón y estratigrafía tóxica en Tocopilla (Chile). Revista Colombiana de Antropologia , 60(3), Article e2710. https://doi.org/10.22380/2539472X.2710 [details]
2023
- Bonelli, C., & de la Cadena, M. (2023). Chilean Streets: An archive against the grain of history. In D. Papadopoulos, M. Puig de la Bellacasa , & M. Tacchetti (Eds.), Ecological Reparation: Repair, Remediation and Resurgence in Social and Environmental Conflict (pp. 301-325). (Dis-positions). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529216073.ch020, https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.455864, https://doi.org/10.56687/9781529216073-026 [details]
2022
- Bonelli, C. (2022). On People, Sensorial Perception, and Potential Affinity in Southern Chile. In M. González Gálvez, P. Di Giminiani, & G. Bacchiddu (Eds.), Theorizing Relations in Indigenous South America (pp. 68-82). (Studies in Social Analysis; Vol. 13). Berghahn. https://doi.org/10.3167/9781800733299, https://doi.org/10.1515/9781800733312-005 [details]
- Tironi, M., Campos-Knothe, K., Acuña, V., Isola, E., Bonelli, C., Gonzalez Galvez, M., Kelly, S., Juzam, L., Molina, F., Pereira Covarrubias, A., Rivas, R., Undurraga, B., & Valdivieso, S. (2022). Interruptions: imagining an analytical otherwise for disaster studies in Latin America. Disaster Prevention and Management, 31(3), 243-259. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-03-2021-0102 [details]
2021
- Bonelli, C., & Dorador, C. (2021). Salares en peligro de extinción: Micro-desastres en el Norte de Chile. Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16759604.v1, https://doi.org/10.1080/25729861.2021.1968634 [details]
- Bonelli, C., & Dorador, C. (2021). Endangered Salares: micro-disasters in Northern Chile. Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society, 4, Article 1968634 . https://doi.org/10.1080/25729861.2021.1968634 [details]
- Bonelli, C., & Walford, A. (2021). Introduction: Environmental Alterities. In C. Bonelli, & A. Walford (Eds.), Environmental Alterities (pp. 13-42). Mattering Press. https://doi.org/10.28938/9781912729142 [details]
- Bonelli, C., & Walford, A. (Eds.) (2021). Environmental Alterities. Mattering Press. https://doi.org/10.28938/9781912729142 [details]
- Bonelli, C., Weinberg, M., & Ampuero Ruiz, P. (2021). El litio, un (des)estabilizador de transiciones bipolares. LASA Forum, 53(1), 37-43. [details]
- Weinberg, M., & Bonelli, C. R. (2021). Lithium: Towards a Theory of Bipolar Transitions. In F. Diaz, A. Kubrak, & M. Otero (Eds.), Lithium. States of Exhaustion (pp. 52-56). Het Nieuwe Instituut.
2020
- Bonelli, C., & Poirot, L. (2020). Secretos de luz: apuntes para una antropología expuesta. Antípoda : Revista de Antropología y Arqueología, 41(1), 175-201. https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda41.2020.08 [details]
- Weinberg, M., González Gálvez, M., & Bonelli, C. (2020). Políticas de la evidencia: entre posverdad, objetividad y etnografía. Antípoda : Revista de Antropología y Arqueología, 41(1), 3-27. https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda41.2020.01 [details]
- Weinberg, M., González Gálvez, M., & Bonelli, C. R. (Eds.) (2020). Políticas de la evidencia: Etnografía entre mundos unívocos y mundos múltiples. Antípoda : Revista de Antropología y Arqueología, 41.
2019
- Bonelli, C. (2019). On People, Sensorial Perception, and Potential Affinity in Southern Chile. Social Analysis, 63(2), 66-80. https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2019.630204 [details]
- Bonelli, C. (2019). Spectral forces, time, and excess in Southern Chile. In K. Omura, G. J. Osuki, S. Satsuka, & A. Morita (Eds.), The World Multiple: The Quotidian Politics of Knowing and Generating Entangled Worlds (pp. 123-139). (Routledge Advances in Sociology). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429456725-8 [details]
2018
- Bonelli, C., & González Gálvez, M. (2018). The roads of immanence: infrastructural change in southern Chile. Mobilities, 13(4), 441-454. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2017.1388346 [details]
2017
- Bonelli, C. (2017). Aguas Equívocas en el Sur de Chile. In G. Vila Benites, & C. Bonelli (Eds.), A contracorriente: Agua y conflicto en América Latina (pp. 119-136). (Agua y Sociedad; Vol. 25). Abya Yala. https://www.academia.edu/31889291/Aguas_Equ%C3%ADvocas [details]
- Bonelli, C., & Vicherat Mattar, D. (2017). Towards a Sociology of Equivocal Connections. Sociology, 51(1), 60-75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038516658397 [details]
- Vila Benites, G., & Bonelli, C. (Eds.) (2017). A contracorriente: Agua y conflicto en América Latina. (Agua y Sociedad; Vol. 25). Abya Yala. [details]
2016
- Bonelli, C. (2016). Palabras de piedra, materiales proféticos y políticas del dónde. Antípoda, 26, 19-43. https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda26.2016.01 [details]
- Bonelli, C. (2016). Visiones Alter-Nativas: Reflexiones sobre Multiplicidad Ontológica y Alteridad en el Sur de Chile. Revista Chilena de Antropología, 33(1), 71-85. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-1472.2016.43390 [details]
- Bonelli, C., & González Gálvez, M. (2016). ¿Qué Hace un Camino? Alteraciones infraestructurales en el Sur de Chile. Revista de Antropologia, Brasil , 59(3), 18-48. https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2016.124804 [details]
2015
- Bonelli Iglesias, C. (2015). Trastornos ontológicos: pesadillas, fármacos psicotrópicos y espíritus malignos en el Sur de Chile. In P. Di Giminiani, S. González Varela, M. Murray, & H. Risør (Eds.), Tecnologías en los márgenes: antropología, mundos materiales y téchnicas en América Latina (pp. 233-256). (Colección Heterotopías; No. 4). Bonilla Artigas. [details]
- Bonelli, C. (2015). Eating one's worlds: on foods, metabolic writing and ethnographic humor. Subjectivity, 8(3), 181-200. https://doi.org/10.1057/sub.2015.7 [details]
- Bonelli, C. (2015). To see that which cannot be seen: ontological differences and public health policies in Southern Chile. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 21(4), 872-891. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12292 [details]
2014
- Bonelli, C. (2014). What Pehuenche blood does: hemic feasting, intersubjective participation, and witchcraft in Southern Chile. HAU : Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 4(1), 105-127. https://doi.org/10.14318%2Fhau4.1.004 [details]
2012
- Bonelli, C. (2012). Ontological disorders: nightmares, psychotropic drugs and evil spirits in southern Chile. Anthropological Theory, 12(4), 407-426. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463499612469587 [details]
2016
- Bonelli, C. R., Roca-Servat, D., & Bueno de Mesquita, M. (2016). The many natures of water in Latin-American neo-extractivist conflicts. Web publication or website, Alternautas: (Re)Searching Development: The Abya Yala Chapter. http://www.alternautas.net/blog/2016/12/9/the-many-natures-of-water-in-latin-american-neo-extractivist-conflicts
2018
- Bonelli, C. R. (2018). Heterotopias and a serious joke at IHE Delft library: [Review of: F. Menga, E. Swyngedouw (2018) Water, Technology, and the Nation State]. Web publication or website, Undisciplined Environments. https://undisciplinedenvironments.org/2018/11/22/heterotopias-and-a-serious-joke-at-ihe-library/
2015
- Bonelli, C. (2015). [Review of: E. Kohn (2013) How forests think: toward an anthropology beyond the human]. Religion and Society, 6(1), 194-195. https://doi.org/10.3167/arrs.2015.060114 [details]
- Bonelli, C. (2015). [Review of: S. Ecks (2013) Eating drugs: psychopharmaceutical pluralism in India]. Contemporary South Asia, 23(1), 91-92. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2014.1001117 [details]
2008
- Bonelli, C. R. (2008). I frattali e le identità plurali. Rivista Italiana no profit. Communitas.
2006
- Bonelli, C. R. (2006). Per una epistemologia del mistero. Rivista Italiana no profit. Communitas.
- Bonelli, C. R., & Notarbartolo, C. (2006). L’epistemologia enattiva come pratica etico-politica, Rivista di Consulenza e ricerca sui sistemi umani. Connessioni, 17.
2004
- Bonelli, C. R. (2004). I Timbri conflittuali dell’identità: Riflessioni sull’ethnoscape in camminata. Animazione Sociale, 8/9.
Talk / presentation
- Bonelli, C. (keynote speaker) (18-1-2024). The world in an Ion: emissions and omissions in the Worlds of Lithium, Wageningen University.
- Bonelli, C. (invited speaker) (3-1-2024). Oscilaciones iónicas: movilidad, quietud y trabajo en mundos de litio, XI Encuentro CTS-2024 Oscilaciones , La Serena . https://cts-chile.cl/xiencuentro/programa-oficial/
- Weinberg, M. (speaker) & Bonelli, C. (speaker) (4-8-2023). ¿Futuros verdes? Transformaciones invisibilizadas en los off-sites de litio en el norte de Chile, GT 48: Despojo, extractivismos y destrucción en América Latina: cuerpos, subjetividades y experiencias en la vida cotidiana
. https://www.ram2023.sinteseeventos.com.br/atividade/view?q=YToyOntzOjY6InBhcmFtcyI7czozNjoiYToxOntzOjEyOiJJRF9BVElWSURBREUiO3M6MzoiMTc2Ijt9I… - Bonelli, C. (speaker) & Ampuero Ruiz, P. (speaker) (29-11-2022). ‘Conversations: Pasts, Presents, and Futures of the Environmental Humanities’ – NICA PhD Council, Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis. https://www.nica-institute.com/environmental-humanities-nica-phd-council/
- Bonelli, C. (speaker) (18-11-2022). Coloquio de Conflictos territoriales: Cosechas sin siembra y dinámicas de borde en el salar de Atacama, Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesión Social (COES) . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzBwjn-IX1U&list=PLhSbM9CcgdakNZZ2Kd9iyGPiGnlsqgTMf&index=5
- Bonelli, C. (speaker) (7-11-2022). Speaker at PhD Workshop: ‘The view from somewhere: geographies of knowledge and STS', Netherlands Graduate Research School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC). https://www.wtmc.eu/events/wtmc-fall-workshop-7-9-november-2022-online
- Bonelli, C. (speaker) & Versteeg, P. (speaker) (4-11-2022). Masterclass ''Ontology as an anthropological tool: limits and potentialities'', Netherlands School of Anthropology (NESA). https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/nesa/events/masterclasses/ontological-turn
Others
- Bonelli, C. (participant) (4-8-2023). GT 48: Spoilage, extraction and destruction in Latin America: bodies, subjectivities and experiences in everyday life. Reflections on extractive processes, looting and destruction often pay attention to how, through the claim of rights, local populations and social (…) (participating in a conference, workshop, ...).
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Ancillary activities
No ancillary activities
Bonelli, C., Galaz-Mandakovic, D., Weinberg, M., Figueroa, V., & Hecht, G. (2024). Cenizas del Antropoceno: omisiones de carbón y estratigrafía tóxica en Tocopilla (Chile). Revista Colombiana de Antropologia , 60(3), Article e2710.