XIV Meeting of Latin American Researchers in Cooperativism (EILAC)
Nicolás Gómez Núñez , regular associate professor of the Sociology program, Faculty of Economics, Government and Communications of the Central University of Chile presents the “ XIV Meeting of Latin American Researchers in Cooperativism (EILAC)”.
The Meeting, promoted by the Latin American Network and sponsored by CLACSO , has become the leading multidisciplinary scientific event in the cooperative sector. Held every two years in countries such as Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Paraguay, this forum has fostered knowledge networks among researchers, managers, and stakeholders in the cooperative movement, promoting scientific output with regional impact and strengthening academic and institutional dialogue.
The fourteenth edition will take place on November 3 and 4 in Santiago, Chile, at the School of Sociology of the Central University of Chile . EILAC will bring together diverse actors from the academic, social, and political spheres, with the aim of fostering the exchange of experiences and methodologies that strengthen the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) in Latin America.
The working methodology of the XIV EILAC is based on epistemic pluralism, organizational horizontality, and openness to interdisciplinary dialogue. Collaborative spaces will be promoted, integrating academic presentations, self-organized activities, book presentations, and experimental workshops. This structure seeks to articulate situated knowledge with comparative approaches, fostering the co-construction of knowledge among researchers, cooperative members, and social actors.
Generating knowledge useful for cooperatives and the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) sector is key to strengthening their organizational, political, and productive capacities. However, this task faces significant challenges: research approaches can be conditioned by epistemic and methodological biases stemming from the contexts in which both researchers and those who practice mutual aid operate. These biases not only influence how phenomena are interpreted but also what topics are researched and what knowledge is considered legitimate.
In the current context, marked by a polycrisis—a series of interconnected crises simultaneously affecting different systems—living conditions worsen and spaces for political participation weaken (Morin & Kern, 1999). This situation excludes many people from the full exercise of their rights and also generates stigmas that reinforce structural inequalities (Sassen, 2003; Fraser, 1997). Often, the experiences of those living in precarious circumstances are delegitimized by narratives that portray them as unproductive or undesirable (Revuelta, 2019). In this scenario, the production of knowledge committed to epistemic justice becomes even more urgent.
We live in a time of permanent crisis, as Morin (2006) and Pastore (2010) warn, where different worlds are forced to coexist under a single global order. This process has displaced alternative and situated knowledge, relegating the voices of those who know from experience (Spivak, 2010). Faced with this scenario, studies on civic communities and social movements have shown how networks of cooperation and their learning allow for the construction of more inclusive forms of public participation (Etzioni, 1968; Putnam, 1994; Melucci, 1999; Forni et al., 2024). Many of these initiatives do not become institutionalized, but they emerge as interpretive spaces and mutual aid networks that envision shared horizons.
In this context, organizations based on reciprocity intertwine the economic with the social, generating bonds of solidarity that strengthen the community fabric (Vommaro, 2014; Loh & Shera, 2022; Sitrin, 2023). The polycrisis, far from being merely a threat, becomes an opportunity to experiment with new forms of the commons, where political creativity and collective imagination play a central role (Pena-Vega, 2024; Appadurai, 2001). In Chile, however, these practices face tensions with a dominant market ethic that has naturalized competition and private property as core values, displacing social justice and solidarity from public debate (Vergara Estévez, 2012). Within this framework, rethinking the public sphere through mutual aid implies challenging established meanings and paving the way toward a more just and pluralistic community.
In Latin America, the dominant symbolic order has reduced the recognition of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) to its capacity to generate employment, neglecting its transformative potential in terms of democracy, gender equality, and sustainability. In Chile, this view has legitimized institutional mechanisms that combine oversight and promotion, defining technical profiles focused on regulatory compliance. Thus, cooperatives and other solidarity-based entities must adapt to legal frameworks that do not always recognize their specific characteristics (Pávez, 2021; Atria, 2022).
As a result, public policies tend to render invisible economic models based on mutual aid, generating biased and unrepresentative governance instruments. This disconnect between the state and social and solidarity economy (SSE) organizations limits their conceptual and operational strengthening. Furthermore, their low participation in policymaking processes restricts their capacity to influence policy. This situation demands a rethinking of institutional frameworks to recognize the diversity of Latin American organizations and their contribution to the common good.
Areas of interest of the XIV EILAC
In the current context of social, economic, and technological transformation, the Social and Solidarity Economy is positioned as a fertile ground for rethinking forms of production, distribution, and collective organization. Therefore, the working methodology of the XIV EILAC is based on epistemic plurality, organizational horizontality, and interdisciplinary dialogue as pillars for the collective construction of knowledge. To this end, it provides spaces for meaningful encounters between researchers, cooperative members, and social actors, fostering critical reflection and institutional creativity. Within this framework, EILAC is envisioned as a fertile space for democratic imagination and the strengthening of pluralistic communities.
This 14th EILAC proposes to address seven lines of work that will allow for a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the sector, in the following areas:
1. Cooperative law: a reference for addressing polycrisis
Coordination: Dr. Elisa Lanas, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Dr. Sergio Reyes Lavega, Universidad de la República
- Updating local regulatory frameworks to respond to the transformations of cooperativism in different sectors (health, housing, work, services and agro-industrial production, etc.).
- Tensions between existing regulations and new forms of cooperation proposed by social economy organizations (mutuals, associations, etc.)
- How the law promotes inter-cooperation, legal adaptability and the effective recognition of cooperatives as actors of public interest in different countries.
2. Historical Memory of the Political, Institutional and Regulatory Frameworks of the Social and Solidarity Economy
Coordination: Dr. Mario Rodrigan (University of Santiago), Mg. Daniel Plotinsky (Idelcoop Cooperative Education Foundation), and Dr. Juan Pablo Martí (University of La República)
- Comparative studies on legal and administrative systems for cooperatives
- Implementation of public and social policies: public procurement, incentives for the formation of cooperatives and social and solidarity economy enterprises.
- The Social and Solidarity Economy in Latin America: connections, assemblies and mismatches with the classic currents of cooperativism.
- Perspectives and analysis of the historical development of the Social and Solidarity Economy in Latin America at the national, world and global levels
3. Cooperative governance: diversity and adaptation in times of polycrisis
Coordination: Dr. Beatriz Cid (University of Concepción), Dr. Alfonso Estragó, Griselda Verbeke (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Buenos Aires), René Mendoza Vidaurre (Vientos de Paz Foundation) and Oscar Osorio Valenzuela (Ministry of Agriculture - Public-Private Technical Committee for Strengthening Agri-food and Rural Cooperativism)
- Models and modalities of democratic governance in cooperatives, paying special attention to how diversity—cultural, generational, gender, functional, territorial, among others—is incorporated and managed in their decision-making bodies and organizational structures.
- Systems, practices and problems linked to the effective participation of members in contexts marked by crises that affect traditional forms of deliberation and management.
- Recent theoretical advances regarding cooperative governance and its ability to adapt to complex environments, marked by uncertainty, institutional fragmentation and pressure for immediate results.
- Innovative proposals for inclusive governance that promote equity in decision-making, strengthen internal legitimacy, and foster organizational sustainability in times of polycrisis.
- Studies on second and third level associations: federations, confederations and/or international networks.
4. Methodologies and Evaluation in Social and Solidarity Economy
Coordination: Dr. Cristian Aliste (University of La Frontera)
- Innovative methodological approaches and tools to measure impact in cooperatives and other organizations of the Social and Solidarity Economy.
- The use of multimodal, digital and situated ethnography in Social and Solidarity Economy studies.
- Experiences and challenges in the use of explanatory, mixed and quasi-experimental designs on cooperativism.
- Measuring the impact on the cooperative and solidarity economy
5. Work, Subjectivities and Social Relations in the Social and Solidarity Economy
Coordination: Dr. Raúl González (University of Christian Humanism Academy)
- Explore the work experiences, social ties, and symbolic dimensions of cooperativism.
- Work in social life and in the cooperative economy: precariousness, stressful experience, social imaginary.
- Gender and Social Economy
- Cooperatives dedicated to the inclusion of people with functional diversity, in situations of disability and with reduced mobility.
- Political spaces that channel community problems and produce rationalities that coexist with the State and the market
6. Innovation, Technology and Digitalization in the Social and Solidarity Economy
Coordination: Dr. José Coloma (Cooperativa Trabajo Vivo) and Dr. Alejandro Marambio (University of Chile)
- Technological innovation processes and their impact on cooperative practices.
- Digital innovation in cooperatives and their networks
- Innovation and social technologies based on cooperatives and other organizations of the Social and Solidarity Economy
- Emerging cooperatives and social innovation
7. Territory, Sustainability and Social Transformation in Times of Polycrisis
Coordination: Dr. Karin Berlien (University of Valparaíso)
- Indigenous economy, territorial justice and the construction of the commons
- Self-management, reciprocity and cooperation as sustainable economic practices.
- The role of cooperatives in the ecological transition
- Consumer cooperatives: collaborative, critical and transformative spaces
