Se analiza la expresión contemporánea del derecho consuetudinario mapuche (Az Mapu) en un conjunto de comunidades indígenas del valle de Liquiñe, en la cordillera de la Región de Los Ríos. Se explora la posibilidad de describir un escenario de reconocimiento, implosión y reconstitución de la tradición jurídica indígena, impulsado por mecanismos interculturales que permiten sostener la existencia de un pluralismo jurídico. Este proceso tiene lugar en un contexto conflictivo, marcado por la intención de una empresa extractivista de emplazarse en su territorio.
La expansión de la minería de cobre en Los Andes ha generado presión sobre los recursos naturales y las capacidades productivas de comunidades campesinas. En este escenario, las comunidades han sido analizadas en una relación de desigualdad con la minería, donde su capacidad de agencia está restringida por el poder minero. Reconociendo las desigualdades estructurales en las que están inmersas, este trabajo analiza las estrategias agroproductivas desplegadas por una comunidad campesina en el sur del Perú (Huanuara) para enfrentar un escenario de escasez hídrica, en parte, producida por la minería. A través de un diálogo conceptual entre el enfoque sociotécnico del riego y los medios de vida (livelihoods), examinamos cómo las prácticas de manejo del agua y del suelo han permitido la subsistencia y adaptación de la agricultura local pese a condiciones de escasez de agua. Los resultados muestran que la comunidad ha desarrollado un conjunto de estrategias agroproductivas para adaptarse al contexto, pero dentro de relaciones desiguales de acceso al agua con la minería. Concluimos que estas capacidades adaptativas revelan la agencia de las comunidades campesinas, sin embargo, sus límites plantean interrogantes sobre la reproducción de la agricultura familiar frente a la expansión extractiva en Los Andes.
We present an archaeometric study of four powder samples obtained during the conservation of a red-type Chinchorro mummy (ca. 3296 ± 210 BP) from the Ulhe-Morro collections in northern Chile. Analyses conducted using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and infrared spectroscopy revealed the presence of iron oxides such as hematite, varying amounts of clay, organic matter, and trace levels of arsenic. We interpret these findings through an experimental model that employs “chemical markers” to investigate the material relationships linking social practices, artifacts, and the environmental context of the Chinchorro populations. Coastal sources of red ochre, Chinchorro mummies, river mouths along this coastline, Choromytilus shells used as pigment containers, and hematite found in ancient vegetal and camelid textile fibers underscore the long-standing and significant connection between this chromatic technological system and the Pacific coast of northern Chile.
The impact of COVID-19 was not only manifested at the sanitary level but also at the cultural level, resulting from restriction policies (through quarantines, sanitary customs in rural areas, curfews) or limiting daily interaction. These restrictions significantly affected indigenous societies in terms of their funeral rites, which were banned during quarantines. It is our belief that music became a catalyzing element of ritual in the Andean world, as such, may have come to play a central role in mortuary rites among the Indigenous peoples of northern Chile.
The article presents a qualitative study on discrimination against motherhood as experienced by female social scientists during their graduate studies in Argentina. Its aim is to analyze the mechanisms through which violence against female students who choose to carry a pregnancy and/or exercise the maternal role is naturalized, identifying its impact on their trajectories. We begin by outlining our anthropological theoretical perspective on violence against motherhood in the social sciences. Then, we describe our methodology, sample profile, and provide an overview of the intersectional inequalities that characterized the university environments where the interviewees pursued their graduate studies. We analyze discrimination against motherhood along three dimensions: i) the denial of female students' access to maternity leave; ii) their difficulties in reconciling academic and reproductive roles; and iii) the moral and psychological violence they experienced from established female academics. In the conclusions, we show that the indicators of female presence do not constitute sufficient evidence gender equity in postgraduate programs; that these spaces naturalize imaginaries that associate women with reproductive roles; and that the rejection of motherhood is a form of violence frequently perpetrated by women.
This article analyzes the practice of timber extraction, publicly framed as "timber theft." The study is set in the Mapuche community of Neculman, in the Nahuelbuta Range (Malleco), a territory dominated by industrial forestry. Drawing on ethnographic visits conducted between 2021 and 2023, the article analyzes how material and subjective conditions shape community practices in a context marked by industrial forestry and ongoing ethnic and territorial claims. Although, timber extraction is legally defined as an illicit practice, within the community it is governed by norms and dispositions rooted in local historical processesthat legitimize it. The article argues that Law No. 21,488 together with the figure of the contractor, reincorporates extracted timber into the forestry commodity chain, shifting risk onto the community, and at the same time producing both cohesion and internal fractures. Finally, this work contributes to debates on moral economy, territorial and extractivism in southern Chile.
Un antiguo y desconocido artículo escrito en francés y publicado en Bélgica sirve de excusa para desempolvar una misteriosa colección “araucana” proveniente de isla Mocha. Su historia se revive mediante el estudio de los objetos depositados desde principios del siglo XX en los Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire de Bruselas, además de los documentos relativos a su donación resguardados por la misma institución. A lo largo de la trama, el coleccionista pasará de ser un individuo anónimo a una figura reconocida, ataviada de sus propios gustos y posesiones, marcando incluso el devenir coleccionista de su hijo. Sin embargo, la protagonista del relato es una singular diadema de plata recuperada de una tumba de la isla, un objeto único y sin igual para la época y aún en el presente. Pese a su rareza, ella se exhibe en el museo europeo como un ícono del pueblo araucano y mochano, aun cuando su estilo y diseño recuerda a los emblemas de poder de los Andes Centrales y Centro Sur. En síntesis, se presenta una crónica abierta para reflexionar sobre el destino de colecciones perdidas, la vida de coleccionistas ignorados y la naturaleza de objetos extraños.
A partir de un enfoque etnográfico, este artículo rastrea los procesos que hicieron posible la circulación global y los consensos sobre la adopción técnica masiva del Gatton panic en el Chaco argentino. El articulo argumenta que el Gatton panic es un actor-red sustraído de su ecosistema original por las redes tecno-económicas de la Revolución Verde y convertido en su intermediario en el Chaco argentino. Estas redes de empresarios y técnicos han parasitado las propiedades de esta y otras plantas nativas de África para convertirlas en mediadores que amplificaron la capacidad forrajera y vehiculizaron el proceso de colonización de espacios fronterizos por parte de capitales ganaderos. A diferencia de las redes tecno económicas agrícolas atravesadas por el uso paquetes cerrados, confeccionados por empresas multinacionales, los consensos en estas redes respecto al uso del Gatton panic se formaron de manera flexible, mediante lógicas de negociación/imposición entre actores humanos y no humanos heterogéneos. Los cuales despliegan formas de vinculación multifacéticas en las relaciones de interdependencia entre artefactos técnicos, componentes no humanos de la biota nativa y la pastura en cuestión. En este sentido, parte de la aceptación masiva tiene como trasfondo capacidad de esta planta para asociarse de versatilmente con múltiples formatos productivos.
En la cuenca amazónica, el desarrollo de la industria del caucho alcanzó su auge entre finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, transformando el paisaje selvático de países como Brasil, Perú, Bolivia, Colombia o Ecuador. En Bolivia, esta transformación fue impulsada por avances tecnológicos, legislativos, políticos y, asimismo, por la propia política de inmigración que abastecía de mano de obra a la industria extractiva. Entre muchos otros relatos masculinos de viajeros, religiosos, políticos y naturalistas del período, el diario de viaje de Rosa Oporto, una joven de la burguesía paceña, nos brinda una perspectiva única: durante casi dos añosde travesía por la selva, la muchacha recorrió los ríos amazónicos, experimentó un naufragio trágico en los rápidos y hasta sufrió la muerte de su hermano. A pesar de eso, logró reportar su experiencia, y su testimonio nos ofrece una infrecuente mirada femenina en la literatura sobre la era del caucho.
Este artículo explora el llamado "robo de madera" en una comunidad de Malleco, cercana a la cordillera de Nahuelbuta, mediante un análisis etnográfico centrado en la perspectiva de los actores locales sobre esta práctica y su contexto territorial e histórico. Se examina cómo las condiciones materiales y subjetivas, en un espacio dominado por la industria forestal y caracterizado por reivindicaciones étnicas y territoriales, moldean las prácticas comunitarias. Si bien la extracción de madera se constituye legalmente como una práctica ilícita, internamente emergen normativas y disposiciones profundamente enraizadas en procesos históricos locales que la legitiman. Estos procesos configuran posicionamientos, decisiones y prácticas que generan contradicciones y antagonismos, reflejando tensiones internas y externas. Las acciones de los actores buscan resistir el modelo hegemónico de explotación forestal y fortalecer la cohesión comunitaria. Este trabajo contribuye a comprender las economías morales populares en contextos de despojo territorial indígena y extractivismo.
El impacto del COVID 19 no sólo se manifestó en el plano sanitario, sino que también en el ámbito cultural, producto de las políticas de restricción (a través de la implantación de cuarentenas, aduanas sanitarias en sectores rurales, toque de queda), o a las limitaciones a la interacción cotidiana. Estas restricciones afectaron especialmente a las sociedades indígenas en el plano de sus ritos fúnebres que fueron prohibidos durante las cuarentenas. A nuestro juicio, la música se constituyó en un elemento catalizador del rito en el mundo andino, con ello, pudo llegar a ser el rasgo principal de los rituales de la muerte entre los indígenas, como parte de un repertorio de larga tradición histórica en el norte de Chile.
Presentamos un estudio cualitativo sobre las discriminaciones a la maternidad vividas por científicas sociales en sus formaciones de posgrado en Argentina. El objetivo es analizar los mecanismos a partir de los cuales se naturalizan las violencias hacia las estudiantes que optan por gestar y/o ejercer la función materna, identificando su impacto en sus trayectorias educacionales y profesionales. Partiremos situando nuestra perspectiva teórica antropológica sobre los prejuicios hacia la maternidad en las ciencias sociales. Luego, describiremos la metodología y el perfil muestral de la investigación. Adentrándonos en el análisis, discutiremos las desigualdades interseccionales que caracterizaban los entornos universitarios donde las entrevistadas cursaron sus posgrados. Analizaremos las discriminaciones en el ejercicio materno a partir de tres ejes: i) la negación del acceso de las estudiantes a la licencia maternal; ii) sus dificultades de conciliar las funciones académicas y reproductivas; y iii) las violencias morales y psicológicas que ellas recibieron de académicas consolidadas. En las conclusiones, mostramos que los indicadores de presencia femenina no constituyen un indicio suficiente de equidad de género en los posgrados; que en estas instancias se naturalizan imaginarios asociando las mujeres a los roles reproductivos y que el rechazo a la maternidad es una violencia perpetrada frecuentemente por mujeres.
Early colonial documents suggest that the area between the high alluvial plains of the Guayas River and the western Andean piedmont of Bolívar Province was inhabited by the Chono society. During the chronological period known as “Integration” (500 AD to European contact), this group has been associated with the Milagro-Quevedo material culture. To date, few archaeological research has been conducted in this area. However, the studies we recently carried out in the middle basin of the Sukibí River show that this sector was continuously occupied starting from 3680 BP to 1534. This research reveals that the southeastern area of the middle basin was inhabited by bearers of the Chimbo-Puruhá material culture. We conclude that it was not the Chonos who inhabited the highlands of Bolivar province.
This article follows the format of an ethnographic account of traditional culture, religiosity, and the Atacame & ntilde;o (Lickanantay) worldview, as well as the ongoing transformations affecting all of these. It draws primarily on anthropological literature and is enriched by autobiographical descriptions from Lickanantay sages and ritual specialists, along with complementary ethnographic information gathered by the authors. The article argues for the importance of distinguishing between Atacame & ntilde;o culture and what is cultural among today's Atacame & ntilde;o people, including specific clarifications regarding cosmology, religiosity, and ritual. From the perspective of traditional culture, as one among several contemporary implications, the article highlights to the existence of a critical stance toward the transformations occurring in the region, especially those attributed to large-scale economies of mining extractivism and tourism. We suggest that a conceptual category such as an ethics of moderation this stance of cultural critique.
This article analyzes the traces of roads left by caravaneer traffic during the Late Intermediate Period (PIT) and the Late Period (PT) (1200 to 1560 AD) in the drainage basin of San Jos & eacute; river, with waters that flow through slopes are freshwater, with low salinity and absence of heavy metals. This allowed the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and legumes from very early times (1000 BC) in the Azapa Valley, making it attractive for the exchange of products with coastal populations and the foothills, strengthening an east-west mobility route complementary to those of the Lluta and Camarones valleys. As indicators of analysis in this work, we will consider the drover traces, along with a series of constructions linked to prehispanic caravan traffic, such as inns and paskanas, as well as the construction of farmyards. We also discuss the functionality and chronology of the villages as nodes and ceremonial spaces where the caravaneers would have interacted with the valley populations. Final discussion will center in the functional and chronological comparison of the roads before and during the Tawantinsuyu (1200 to 1560 AD), pondering about who were the people who traveled these roads and the cultural importance they left.
The article aims to understand the process of appropriation and legal establishment of practices and public spaces-specifically the (re)naming of squares and streets, as well as the installation of commemorative plaques-in the City of Buenos Aires (CABA) between 2004 and 2015. Drawing on in-depth interviews and an examination of official documents, it analyzes how unprecedented changes were conceived through dynamics of Indigenous agency and memory. To do so, it identifies a series of motives and circumstances: the political organization of Indigenous groups in Buenos Aires, a broader regional context of ethnic visibility, a new legal and demographic framework in Argentina, and, above all, the arrival of Aymara and Quechua populations to Buenos Aires and their central role in promoting these initiatives. The article suggests that this experience transformed the social imaginary of a metropolis long understood as a "European enclave" in Latin America, while also warning of a current resurgence of racist perspectives that portray the recognition of ethno-cultural diversity as detrimental to national and porte & ntilde;o identity.
During the third campaign of the extirpation of idolatries (1650) in a rural doctrine of the Archdiocese of Lima, in the central highlands of Peru, two criminal proceedings were opened against Juana Ycha and Ines Carua Chumbi, who were accused of witchcraft. To spatially and temporally contextualize these documents, an analysis and comparison were carried out using data from archaeological surveys and aerial imagery. In this way, the study proposes the spatial location and characterization of the sacred landscapes where the officiants performed rituals dedicated to Apo Parato and Apo Quircay.
The article presents the first results of the research carried out at the Macaji Lourdes site (Riobamba, Chimborazo), discussing the characteristics of the archaeological record, cultural materiality, chronological data and the post-depositional processes that affected it. The evidence recovered through an archaeological prospection, including surface surveys, shovel tests pits, and stratigraphic excavation of four 3m x 1m units, revealed the presence of an archaeological site in Unit 01. Site that is associated with a domestic housing context made up of stone walls, inside which remains of a stove (tullpa), ceramics, lithic materials, carbonized botanical macroremains and high-density faunal bones were found arranged in a sandy-loam sedimentary matrix. It denotes a Puruha occupation between 600 to 700 AD during the final phase of the Regional Development Period (300 BC-800 AD), which maintained exchange systems at the microregional and macroregional level (Northern and Southern Andes of Ecuador). This occupation was likely interrupted by the last eruptive activity of Chimborazo volcano, which occurred between early 5th and late 7th centuries, leading to the sites abandonment due to prolonged events that must have caused significant socio-cultural stress and vulnerability.
Research carried out along the middle course of the Salado Stream (Rio Negro Province, Argentina) has revealed the importance of this waterway as a conduit for human circulation between the interior and the Atlantic coast. This work examines the petroglyphs from two sites located in this stretch of the basin: Piedras Blancas and Pared & oacute;n de los Grabados. Through a comparative analysis of the motifs, their spatial location, and their visual field, it is proposed that both sites differ markedly in the conditions under which the motifs are displayed. Evaluating these results within the macroregional context of the late Holocene North Patagonian rock art shows similarities with petroglyphs from the Somuncura Plateau, the Limay basin and the Andes Cordillera. The study concludes that the differences between Pared & oacute;n de los Grabados and Piedras Blancas stem from distinct occupation events at this stopping point along the route between the interior and the coast. The variability observed in rock art, together with other lines of evidence, indicates that the area between the eastern foothills of the Somuncura Plateau and the Atlantic coast was a zone of coverage for people, images and objects circulating across this broad region.
This article analytically examines the notion of Andean pastoral work from a critical gender perspective, proposing an epistemic shift in the concept toward one that also incorporates responsibilities linked to forms of care in these Indigenous contexts. The breadth of practices carried out by women is shown to sustain the current challenges of pre-cordillera pastoralism, and its feminization ultimately produces gendered inequalities in access to rest. Drawing on ethnography with Aymara women from three generations who actively practice population mobility between city, valleys, and foothills, the article analyzes three categories through which they conceive their responsibilities: to work, to help, and to accompany. These categories organize a multiplicity of practices that include productive tasks and care work involving not only older women, but also young and middle-aged women with greater urban permanence. The results derive from a qualitative study based on twelve-month multi-sited ethnography in the Arica and Parinacota Region (2022-2023), with twenty-three women connected through kinship networks (mothers, daughters, granddaughters, and daughters-in-law).
