ABSTRACT This article, based on ethnographic research conducted in a public health program in Posadas, Misiones, Argentina (2024–2025), examines the sociopolitical tensions surrounding care for people living with HIV (PLHIV) in a context of structural crisis and underfunding of the healthcare system. Drawing from critical medical anthropology and care studies, the analysis reveals a matrix of conflict: relational efforts to bind ( enlazar ) patients contrast with institutional mechanisms that lead the system to release ( soltar ) of those who drift away. Practices of binding are sustained by healthcare workers and affective networks that take on the logistics of care. In contrast, releasing crystallizes in the operational category of “restart” ( reinicio ). This reveals how the lack of systematization in follow‐up functions as a biopolitical mechanism that externalizes the cost of care, delegating responsibility to the individual and reinforcing the fiction of the autonomous patient.
ABSTRACT Emancipation Day commemorates the end of slavery and is observed annually by African Guyanese on the first Monday in August. Celebrations provide a space to honor ancestors, express gratitude, mourn, and engage in cultural rejuvenation through communal activities such as night vigils, libation ceremonies, drumming, dancing, and pilgrimages to historic sites of trauma. This article examines how Emancipation Day commemorations in Guyana function as performative spaces through which African Guyanese negotiate Afrocentric identity, ethnic boundaries, and national belonging in a racially polarized postcolonial society. It asks: “How do African Guyanese use Emancipation Day performances and rituals to construct and defend interpretations of Africanness amid political and cultural contestation?” Drawing on fifteen years of ethnographic research, the article argues that Emancipation Day celebrations have evolved beyond remembrance into cultural resistance and political expression, through which African Guyanese affirm ancestral heritage, contest marginalization, and reimagine their identity.
Latin America has experienced an increase in environmental conflicts related to the development of non-conventional renewable energy sources. The result of militant research, this article analyzes the political mobilization of a group of people on Chilo & eacute;'s largest island in response to the environmental evaluation process of a transmission line in 2020. My interlocutors' points of disagreement with the project lie, on the one hand, in the realization of citizen participation processes under adverse sanitary conditions in the context of the pandemic. On the other hand, they are related to previous experiences with the impacts of electricity-related infrastructure in other parts of Chilo & eacute;. I describe the opposing notions of anthropocenic ecoauthority pushed by both my interlocutors and state institutions. While the state institutions took a productivist perspective, focusing on the urgency of economic reactivation to address the impacts of the pandemic and the need to accelerate the construction of transmission infrastructure for decarbonization, my interlocutors' communication campaign argued for the politicization of energy and its broader impacts on the territory. Both perspectives are situated within the long history of the Chilo & eacute; archipelago as an internal frontier in relation to Chile. Am & eacute;rica Latina ha visto recientemente crecer la conflictividad ambiental relacionada al desarrollo de energ & iacute;as renovables no convencionales. Fruto de un proceso de investigaci & oacute;n militante, este art & iacute;culo analiza una movilizaci & oacute;n pol & iacute;tica de un grupo de personas en la isla grande de Chilo & eacute; (Chile), frente proceso de evaluaci & oacute;n ambiental de una l & iacute;nea de transmisi & oacute;n el & eacute;ctrica en 2020. Los puntos de partida de la disconformidad de mis interlocutores con el proyecto se encuentran, por una parte, en el contexto pand & eacute;mico y la realizaci & oacute;n de procesos de participaci & oacute;n ciudadana bajo condiciones sanitarias adversas y, por otra, en las experiencias previas de impactos de infraestructura el & eacute;ctrica en varios sectores de Chilo & eacute;. Describo las nociones contrapuestas de ecoautoridad antropoc & eacute;nica que se empujaron tanto del lado de mis interlocutores como desde la institucionalidad estatal, mientras que una perspectiva productivista se enfoca en la urgencia de la reactivaci & oacute;n econ & oacute;mica necesaria por los impactos del COVID-19 y en la necesidad de acelerar la construcci & oacute;n de infraestructura de transmisi & oacute;n para la descarbonizaci & oacute;n. Adem & aacute;s, la campa & ntilde;a comunicacional de mis interlocutores, Chilo & eacute; Libre, empuj & oacute; un enfoque politizador de la energ & iacute;a y sus impactos territoriales m & aacute;s amplios. Ambas perspectivas se sit & uacute;an en la historia del archipi & eacute;lago de Chilo & eacute; como territorio de frontera geogr & aacute;fica interna en relaci & oacute;n con Chile.
This article examines Mexicanidad-an urban movement linked to Danza Azteca-as a contemporary reanimation of the Aztec past through ritual, discipline, and embodied memory. Based on long-term ethnographic research in central Mexico (2009-2017), it argues that practitioners generate counter-histories through ritual, moral labor, and visionary experience, treating oral transmission as the premier source of authority. Building on Jenkins's notion of history as present-centered production and on memory studies (Connerton; Halbwachs; Jelin) and social-movement theory (Eyerman & Jamison), the analysis shows how dance, sweat-lodge ceremonies, dreams, and communal work become practices of knowing and transmitting the past. In contrast to nationalist narratives that glorify Aztec antiquity while marginalizing its heirs, Mexicanidad idealizes the Aztec past to transform stigma into dignity. Through embodied and oneiric practice, participants-mostly urban mestizos-reclaim interpretive authority over history and fashion a proud, distinct Mexica identity in contemporary Mexico. Este art & iacute;culo examina la Mexicanidad -un movimiento urbano vinculado a la Danza Azteca- como una reanimaci & oacute;n contempor & aacute;nea del pasado azteca a trav & eacute;s del ritual, la disciplina y la memoria encarnada. Basado en una investigaci & oacute;n etnogr & aacute;fica de largo plazo realizada en el centro de M & eacute;xico entre 2009 y 2017, sostiene que sus practicantes generan contrahistorias mediante el ritual, el trabajo moral y las experiencias visionarias, considerando la transmisi & oacute;n oral como principal fuente de autoridad. A partir de la noci & oacute;n de Jenkins de la historia como una producci & oacute;n centrada en el presente, as & iacute; como de los estudios de la memoria (Connerton, Halbwachs y Jelin) y de la teor & iacute;a de los movimientos sociales (Eyerman y Jamison), el an & aacute;lisis muestra c & oacute;mo la danza, las ceremonias de temazcal, los sue & ntilde;os y el trabajo comunitario se convierten en pr & aacute;cticas de conocimiento y transmisi & oacute;n del pasado. Frente a las narrativas nacionalistas que glorifican la antig & uuml;edad azteca mientras marginan a sus herederos vivos, la Mexicanidad idealiza el pasado azteca para transformar el estigma en dignidad. A trav & eacute;s de pr & aacute;cticas encarnadas y on & iacute;ricas, los participantes -en su mayor & iacute;a mestizos urbanos- reclaman autoridad interpretativa sobre la historia y forjan una identidad mexica orgullosa y distintiva en el M & eacute;xico contempor & aacute;neo.
This article examines how Indigenous Atacame & ntilde;o Communities mobilize the past as a political and economic resource amid lithium extraction in northern Chile. Based on ethnographic research in the Salar de Atacama basin, as well as archival work on regional archaeology, it develops the concept of ethnotechnical modulation to describe how archaeological knowledge, heritage discourses, and narratives of deep historical continuity are articulated with contemporary Indigenous politics and extractive economies. Over the past decades, narratives of millennia-long occupation of the desert-largely produced through archaeological research and museum practices-have become central to Atacame & ntilde;o territorial claims. Community leaders mobilize these historical narratives in negotiations with the Chilean state and lithium companies, particularly in agreements that channel financial transfers to Atacame & ntilde;o communities. These arrangements should not be understood simply as heritage politics or corporate compensation, but as a form of modulation of the past that articulates an Atacame & ntilde;o position at the limits of the state and its extractive political economy, one that is neither fully captured by governance nor adequately described as resistance. Este art & iacute;culo examina c & oacute;mo las Comunidades Atacame & ntilde;as movilizan el pasado como recurso pol & iacute;tico y econ & oacute;mico en el contexto de la extracci & oacute;n de litio en el norte de Chile. A partir de una investigaci & oacute;n etnogr & aacute;fica en la cuenca del salar de Atacama y trabajo de archivo sobre la arqueolog & iacute;a regional, se desarrolla el concepto de modulaci & oacute;n etnot & eacute;cnica para describir la articulaci & oacute;n entre conocimiento arqueol & oacute;gico, discursos patrimoniales, narrativas de continuidad cultural, pol & iacute;tica ind & iacute;gena contempor & aacute;nea y econom & iacute;as extractivas. En este contexto, las narrativas de ocupaci & oacute;n milenaria del desierto de las & uacute;ltimas d & eacute;cadas, producidas en gran medida por la arqueolog & iacute;a y las pr & aacute;cticas museogr & aacute;ficas, se han vuelto centrales para las reivindicaciones territoriales atacame & ntilde;as, pues las comunidades las movilizan en negociaciones con el Estado chileno y con las empresas del litio, especialmente en el marco de acuerdos que canalizan las transferencias financieras. Estos arreglos no deben ser entendidos simplemente como parte de un proceso de patrimonializaci & oacute;n o de compensaci & oacute;n corporativa, sino m & aacute;s bien desde una forma de modulaci & oacute;n del pasado que articula lo atacame & ntilde;o como una posici & oacute;n liminal del Estado y su econom & iacute;a pol & iacute;tica extractivista, la cual no se reduce al binario dominaci & oacute;n/resistencia.
The visit to Bogot & aacute; of a f & eacute;& eacute;eneminaa (Muinane) friend, C & eacute;limo Nejedeka Jifich & iacute;u, and in particular, his work in researching and transmitting traditional health knowledge, offer the pretext to navigate the relationship between elements that at first glance seem distant from each other: indigenous imaginaries about otherness, their visions of the future, and health. From a Muinane perspective, building the future means to constantly "humanizing" -incorporating, subjectivizing- the word of life of the origin for living well. This, however, is not a solitary task, but rather a laborious interaction with the Other, whether human or non-human. A good life cannot be achieved without the desiring and skillful engagement with alterity; although intrinsically threatening, alterity energizes the permanent recreation of indigenous society and, by entering into relationship with it, humans "humanize it" and humanize themselves at once, forming themselves as "true humans of the future." This article, the result of a long-term collaborative research process, explores how the learning and practical application of Muinane health knowledge forge sociality, while also expanding our understanding of what it means to co-investigate within an indigenous context. La visita a Bogot & aacute; de un amigo f & eacute;& eacute;eneminaa (muinane), C & eacute;limo Nejedeka Jifich & iacute;u, y en particular su trabajo de investigaci & oacute;n y transmisi & oacute;n del conocimiento tradicional sobre salud, ofrecen el pretexto para navegar la relaci & oacute;n entre elementos que a primera vista parecen estar distantes entre s & iacute;: los imaginarios ind & iacute;genas sobre la alteridad, sus visiones del futuro, y la salud. Desde una perspectiva muinane, construir el futuro significa "humanizar" constantemente-incorporar, subjetivar- la palabra de vida del origen para vivir bien. Esta, sin embargo, no es una tarea solitaria, sino una laboriosa interacci & oacute;n con el Otro, ya sea humano o no humano. Una vida buena no puede lograrse fuera del deseoso y h & aacute;bil compromiso con la alteridad; aunque intr & iacute;nsecamente amenazante, la alteridad dinamiza la recreaci & oacute;n permanente de la sociedad ind & iacute;gena y, al entrar en relaci & oacute;n con ella, los humanos la "humanizan" y se "humanizan" a s & iacute; mismos a la vez, form & aacute;ndose como "verdaderos humanos del futuro." Este art & iacute;culo, fruto de un largo proceso de investigaci & oacute;n colaborativa, explora c & oacute;mo el aprendizaje y la aplicaci & oacute;n pr & aacute;ctica de los conocimientos muinane sobre la salud construyen socialidad, al tiempo que ampl & iacute;an la comprensi & oacute;n de lo que significa coinvestigar en un contexto ind & iacute;gena.
This article takes shape as a shared inquiry between an ethnographer and a photographer, in continuity with the photographic archive of Luis Poirot. Through sustained encounters with his images and archival practices, the text does not position itself outside the archive that motivates it, but unfolds from within it. At its center is what Poirot calls lucid memory. It is not a theoretical category, but a fragile and demanding practice of persistence. Through it, photographic materials and the relations that sustain them illuminate a dark zone of history, not by restoring order or chronology, but by allowing presences to persist, return, or even resist appearance within an anarchic temporal register. Photography, ethnography, and writing are approached here as practices that remain internally related, extending one another through shared exposure and material persistence. The archive does not appear as a sequence of past moments to be contextualized or interpreted, but as a stratigraphy of presences, where different historical textures remain active, sedimented, and unevenly available. Situated within Chile's unfinished political history, this relational archive foregrounds lucid memory as a sustained and demanding coexistence of presences that resist chronological ordering and erasure. Este art & iacute;culo se configura a partir de una indagaci & oacute;n compartida entre un etn & oacute;grafo y un fot & oacute;grafo, en continuidad con el archivo fotogr & aacute;fico de Luis Poirot. A trav & eacute;s de encuentros sostenidos con sus im & aacute;genes y pr & aacute;cticas de archivo, el texto no se sit & uacute;a por fuera del archivo que lo motiva, sino que se despliega desde su interior. En su centro se encuentra lo que Poirot denomina memoria l & uacute;cida. No se trata de una categor & iacute;a te & oacute;rica, sino de una pr & aacute;ctica fr & aacute;gil y exigente de persistencia. Mediante ella, los materiales fotogr & aacute;ficos y las relaciones que lo sostienen iluminan una zona oscura de la historia, sin restituir un orden o una cronolog & iacute;a, sino permitiendo que las presencias persistan, regresen o incluso resistan su aparici & oacute;n dentro de un registro temporal an & aacute;rquico. La fotograf & iacute;a, la etnograf & iacute;a y la escritura son abordadas aqu & iacute; como pr & aacute;cticas que permanecen internamente relacionadas, extendi & eacute;ndose unas a otras a trav & eacute;s de una exposici & oacute;n compartida y una persistencia material. El archivo no aparece como una secuencia de momentos pasados a ser contextualizados o interpretados, sino como una estratigraf & iacute;a de presencias, donde distintas texturas hist & oacute;ricas permanecen activas, sedimentadas y desigualmente disponibles. Situado en la historia pol & iacute;tica inconclusa de Chile, este archivo relacional pone en primer plano la memoria l & uacute;cida como una coexistencia sostenida y exigente de presencias que resisten el ordenamiento cronol & oacute;gico y su borramiento.
Lithium in the Salar de Atacama was discovered in 1962, and since then it has become one of the world's most important deposits. Although promoted as an ecological mineral due to its use in batteries, its extraction entails high water consumption within a desert ecosystem historically inhabited by the Atacame & ntilde;o people. This article analyzes the current state of lithium mining in the context of the energy transition, with special attention to the negotiations that take place within a system of interethnic relations among indigenous communities, mining companies, and a state agency that manages mineral resources. Furthermore, it examines the context, strategies, contradictions, and socio-environmental inequalities emerging in the territory as a result of the expansion of lithium mining within a framework of green extractivism. El litio en el salar de Atacama fue descubierto en 1962 y, desde entonces, se ha consolidado como uno de los yacimientos m & aacute;s importantes a nivel mundial. Aunque se promueve como un mineral ecol & oacute;gico por el uso en las bater & iacute;as, su extracci & oacute;n implica un elevado consumo de agua en un ecosistema des & eacute;rtico habitado hist & oacute;ricamente por el pueblo atacame & ntilde;o. Este art & iacute;culo analiza la situaci & oacute;n actual de la explotaci & oacute;n de litio en el contexto de la transici & oacute;n energ & eacute;tica, con especial atenci & oacute;n en las negociaciones desarrolladas en el marco de un sistema de relaciones inter & eacute;tnicas entre las comunidades ind & iacute;genas, las mineras y una agencia estatal administradora de los recursos mineros. Asimismo, se aborda el contexto, las estrategias, las contradicciones y las desigualdades socioambientales que emergen en el territorio a partir de la expansi & oacute;n de esta miner & iacute;a en un escenario de extractivismo verde.
This article examines the historical displacement of Indigenous peoples in Venezuela, focusing on the links between indigenist policies and the exploitation of natural resources, particularly oil, throughout the 20th century. Using a combined historical and ethnographic approach, it demonstrates how the formation of the Venezuelan nation-state involved expanding physical, economic, ethnic, and moral boundaries, shaping both the country's landscape and its sociocultural and political relations. While oil fueled economic growth, Indigenous communities were marginalized due to territorial expropriation and state-led integration and assimilation initiatives. By tracing the actions of successive governments and the persistent presence of military and missionary groups, the study explores the intersections of capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism in nation-building, showing how power dynamics conditioned who would be included in the projects of modernity and who would be excluded. Este art & iacute;culo examina el desplazamiento hist & oacute;rico de los pueblos ind & iacute;genas en Venezuela, centr & aacute;ndose en los v & iacute;nculos entre las pol & iacute;ticas indigenistas y la explotaci & oacute;n de los recursos naturales, particularmente el petr & oacute;leo, a lo largo del siglo XX. Mediante un enfoque combinado hist & oacute;rico y etnogr & aacute;fico, se demuestra c & oacute;mo la formaci & oacute;n del Estado-naci & oacute;n venezolano implic & oacute; la expansi & oacute;n de las fronteras f & iacute;sicas, econ & oacute;micas, & eacute;tnicas y morales, configurando tanto el paisaje del pa & iacute;s como sus relaciones socioculturales y pol & iacute;ticas. Aunque el petr & oacute;leo impuls & oacute; el crecimiento econ & oacute;mico, las comunidades ind & iacute;genas quedaron marginadas debido a la expropiaci & oacute;n territorial y a iniciativas estatales de integraci & oacute;n y asimilaci & oacute;n. Al seguir las acciones de gobiernos sucesivos y la persistente presencia de grupos militares y misioneros, el estudio explora las intersecciones del capitalismo, el imperialismo y el colonialismo en la construcci & oacute;n de la naci & oacute;n, mostrando c & oacute;mo las din & aacute;micas de poder condicionaron qui & eacute;nes ser & iacute;an incluidos en los proyectos de modernidad y qui & eacute;nes ser & iacute;an excluidos.
This article examines a campesino women's interspecies reconciliation initiative in Caquet & aacute;, Colombia, that promotes community processes of healing and peacebuilding through medicinal plants. Drawing on collaborative ethnography, we analyze how medicinal plants become nodes of socioecological relations that enable former combatants, victims, and local communities to rebuild trust, solidarity, and everyday practices of care. We argue that peacebuilding efforts require reimagining territories as relational assemblages of humans and other-than-human beings that mutually co-constitute one another. By positioning plants as mediators of these relationships, the article shows how everyday practices of cultivation, healing, and storytelling generate memories and alternative futures that resist the logics of war.
Being "white-mestizo" in Mexico and Ecuador is not only about skin color or phenotype, but also a way of acting that provides advantages to some groups over others. This article explores the privilege of claiming to protect and speak for others through a discussion of the concepts of paternalism, "maternalism," and ventriloquism. Maternalism is highlighted given the important role played by upper- and middle-class, White-mestizo women as mediators in interethnic relations. Like mestizaje, speaking for others and becoming their advocate is a problematic promise of inclusion. The contemporary behavior of dominant groups is traced to colonial social relations congealed in legal figures that have lingered in Latin American legislation until recently. The article argues that these legal constructs continue to shape contemporary inter-ethnic relations, showing a close relation between law and custom. Finally, the article shows how patterns of paternalist and "maternalist" domination came to constitute a coherent and lasting system for the management of racialized populations.
This article is focused on four Black women entrepreneurs in Cuba's lucrative bed and breakfast home-based tourism economy, asking: (1) what intersectional factors facilitated their entrepreneurial enterprises, (2) how they conceptualize success, and (3) how their narratives illuminate patterns involving gendered race in the country's increasingly market-oriented context, and what opportunities might be on the horizon? Their narratives provide a praxis that demonstrates how despite their distinct paths to cuentapropismo (self-employment), socialist values largely shape their conceptions of success. Nonetheless, historic tropes from the prerevolutionary era involving White (or foreign) patriarchal gatekeepers reveal themselves, even with evidence of potential patrons who were previously inaccessible due to similar social marginalization. By centering these Black women's voices and experiences, this project uses womanism as theory in action.
Pastoralism worldwide faces a complex landscape of increased pressures and exclusion. Beyond ecological and economic challenges, pastoralists suffer eroding cultural identity, limited generational renewal, and political marginalization. Yet pastoral livelihoods are increasingly recognized as stewards of sustainable futures and amongst the best food producers in a post-fossil world scenario. In such a struggle for socio-ecological justice, voices of Latin America pastoralists remain unheard both within regional debates and pastoral scholarship globally. With this article we explore the Latin American context to push conceptual, economic, and political boundaries that pose constraints for sustainable rural development. Rising voices of Latin American pastoralists reveal local agency, resourcefulness, and resistance. Critical notions of identity and feeling to belong tied to rootedness and "sense of place" emerge as particularly relevant, in contrast with conventional framings focused on environmental and economic constraints.
Runa women living along the Bobonaza river in the Ecuadorian Amazon raise captured forest animals, in a practice called wibana. Runa women are attentive to the particular ways the wiba (raised) animals interface with the world, and learn the wibas' communicative repertoires and are able to "read" what wibas sense in the forest, including dangerous beings. Runa and wibas come to know each other through processes of mutual familiarization and taming. Using concrete, ethnographic examples, I demonstrate the everyday practices that bring wiba and Runa livelihoods into alignment with each other and engender an intersubjective, interspecies relationship. I highlight the ways that wibas actively produce and mediate the relationship, including maintaining appropriate distance and boundary work to carve out status, positionality, and access to resources within the larger more-than-human community. Mujeres Runa que viven por el r & iacute;o Bobonaza en la Amazon & iacute;a Ecuatoriana capturan y cr & iacute;an animales silvestres, en una pr & aacute;ctica llamada wibana. Mujeres Runa estan atentas a las formas particulares en que los animales wiba (criados) interactuan con el mundo, y aprenden los repertorios comunicativos de huibas y pueden interpretar lo que huibas perciben en el bosque, incluyendo los seres peligrosos. Runa y huibas llegan a conocerse a trav & eacute;s de procesos de familiarizaci & oacute;n y domesticaci & oacute;n m & uacute;tua. Utilizando ejemplos etnogr & aacute;ficos concretos, demuestro las pr & aacute;cticas cotidianas que alinean las vidas de Runa y huiba y generan una relaci & oacute;n intersubjetiva y entre-especies. Destaco las formas en que huibas producen y med & iacute;an activamente la relaci & oacute;n, incluido el mantenimiento de la distancia apropiada y l & iacute;mites para establecer estatus, posici & oacute;n, y acceso a los recursos de la comunidad multi-especies.
This article is focused on four Black women entrepreneurs in Cuba's lucrative bed and breakfast home-based tourism economy, asking: (1) what intersectional factors facilitated their entrepreneurial enterprises, (2) how they conceptualize success, and (3) how their narratives illuminate patterns involving gendered race in the country's increasingly market-oriented context, and what opportunities might be on the horizon? Their narratives provide a praxis that demonstrates how despite their distinct paths to cuentapropismo (self-employment), socialist values largely shape their conceptions of success. Nonetheless, historic tropes from the prerevolutionary era involving White (or foreign) patriarchal gatekeepers reveal themselves, even with evidence of potential patrons who were previously inaccessible due to similar social marginalization. By centering these Black women's voices and experiences, this project uses womanism as theory in action.
