202557(en)/17 - Reconfiguring Territory Beyond the State. Aymara Crossborder Practices and the Economy of Andean Medical Wisdom
RECONFIGURING TERRITORY BEYOND THE STATE. AYMARA CROSS-BORDER PRACTICES AND THE ECONOMY OF ANDEAN MEDICAL WISDOM
RECONFIGURAR EL TERRITORIO MÁS ALLÁ DEL ESTADO. PRÁCTICAS TRANSFRONTERIZAS AYMARA Y ECONOMÍA DEL SABER MÉDICO ANDINO
Gonzalo Álvarez, Carlos Piñones-Rivera and Sofia Larrazabal
This article discusses how Aymara conceptions of territory and associated practices developed in the cross-border area between Bolivia and Chile, transcend the state boundaries imposed by the international order. Drawing on ethnographic observations of cross-border processes, individual interviews, and a review of sources, Aymara conceptions of territory are analyzed, focusing broadly on their expression through sociopolitical practices and, more specifically, on the popular economy of Andean medical wisdom. From this, it is argued that Aymara ways of understanding space – as an ecology produced by relational practices between a large number of beings, including human, non-human and more than human – and the practices developed there promote a reappropriation and resignification of the territory that transcends state constraints and the narrow margins that have historically defined relations between both countries.
