Reflections on the guaraní indigenous women's worldview of caring for the territory in Jujuy Province

Abstract

This research explores the activism and militancy of Guaraní indigenous women living in the Chaco region of Jujuy Province, Argentina. It examines the historical connections, collective organizing processes, and the impact of their actions on their bodies, territory, and land, all through an intercultural and intergenerational lens. The study reveals how these women have been actively engaging in political agency and advocacy, fighting for their rights and a good and healthy life. This struggle takes place within a context of systematic violence against their bodies, communities, and territories, stemming from a capitalist, patriarchal, ageist, and biomedical system. The research highlights the importance of appreciative and generative dialogues, as well as collaborative actions between grandmothers, mothers, and young daughters, which have facilitated the transmission of ancestral knowledge and practices related to traditional medicine, community-based health, intercultural education, care and self-care, socio-community management, and governance of land and territory. Through the written narratives, the study reveals transformations and projects developed from perspectives of power, knowledge, being, and co-existence, which persistently seek to decolonize structures, conversations, mechanisms of oppression, inequalities, disconnections, simplifications, and neutrality.