La contracara del espejo.

R-existencias y resistencias wichí en Tartagal, Salta

Abstract

The Wichí communities of northern Salta possess valuable ancestral knowledge and a distinctive way of inhabiting their territories, yet they face increasing challenges due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier and the deforestation inherent to the capitalist model. In this article, we aim to problematize the socio-ecological practices of the Wichí community Yokwespehen, located in the Yungas of northern Salta, and understand them as forms of r-existence and resistance (Porto Gonçalves & Hurtado, 2022; Porto Gonçalves & Hocsman, 2016) in the face of the hegemonic control of Western reason (Mignolo, 2011). We draw on the concept of r-existence as the community’s capacity to maintain and reinvent its cultural and economic practices within a context of pressure and dispossession (Porto Gonçalves, 2016), and from there we interpret them as forms of resistance expressed through the active defense of their territory and their use of topoi. Through these practices, the community resignifies and defends its place (Escobar, 2015, 2012), reinventing an ancient eco-cultural corridor that has historically sustained their lifeways and identity. This analysis seeks to problematize territorial defense strategies and practices, and to make visible the capacity of Indigenous peoples to transform imposed logics and to build from their own knowledge and practices. In doing so, it reveals the other side of the mirror of modernity in northern Salta, highlighting the uses and defense of Indigenous territories.