Territoriality and the politics of ancestrality: Meaning,scope,and depth of Indigenous struggles in the North of Chile

Abstract

This article explores the complex interplay between territory, culture, politics, and livelihoods through the ancestral land claims of the Indigenous Aymara community of Chumiza in northern Chile. The Aymara community's struggle for meaning, life, and identity is deeply rooted in a historical context in which the question of territory is inherently cultural, political, and economic. For the Aymara people, the concepts of territory and environment are not just abstract notions but deeply intertwined with their historical awareness, cultural traditions, and their profound relationship with the land. Understanding how land and territory are defined, planned, and regulated is therefore crucial to comprehending their production through state policies and institutional frameworks. These diverse interpretations and definitions, shaped by the state, international law, and Indigenous communities, often clash. The Aymara community's territorial reclamation reconfigures these legal, political, and symbolic dimensions to re-establish territory as a distinct entity, underpinned by a specific historical connection between a people and their land, encapsulated in the notion of ancestrality.