<jats:sec> <jats:title>Purpose</jats:title> <jats:p>Drawing on two research experiences with socio-environmental organizations in central and southern Chile, this article aims to engage in a critical feminist and collaborative reflexivity on ethnographic work with territorial and socio-environmental movements. This approach is characterized, among other aspects, by a redefinition of the researcher's positionality and a critical engagement with decolonial theoretical and methodological frameworks.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Design/methodology/approach</jats:title> <jats:p>Through an examination of two ethnographic experiences located in Chile – Panguipulli (Los Ríos region) and Quintero-Puchuncaví (Valparaíso region) – we propose pathways that support processes of hydrofeminization in territories marked by inequalities rooted in capitalist extractivist economies.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Findings</jats:title> <jats:p>The findings suggest that hydrofeminisms contribute to challenging organizational ethnographic research by reconfiguring its methods and adding essential collaborative practices.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Originality/value</jats:title> <jats:p>These collaborative practices grounded in critiques of the patriarchy, extractive economies and the colonial production of knowledge help ethnographers engage in a two way exchange of knowledge: not only seeing the fieldwork as a source of data collection but also offering informed insights to the communities where they get embedded; not only recognizing patriarchal and extractivist structures but also actively participating with the communities against this social and economic oppressions.</jats:p> </jats:sec>