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P051


The indigenous city: ecologies, imaginations and the urban space in Latin America 
Convenors:
Olivia Casagrande (University of Sheffield)
Valentina Bonifacio (Ca' Foscari University of Venice)
Format:
Panels
Location:
SOAS Senate House - S314
Sessions:
Saturday 2 June, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London

Short Abstract:

Urban indigenous ecologies and imaginations are addressed as meaningful frames for new forms of collective actions and selves, providing important insights about processes of decolonization of environmental knowledge, and exploring current transformations and future shapes of Latin American cities.

Long Abstract:

Indigenous ecological thinking not only belongs to rural indigenous communities, but also to urban contexts, often implying conceptual shifts and new practices. Within the city, emergent indigenous socio-ecologies trigger new political practices and experimental knowledge, provoking different ways of relating with (urban) space, negotiating collective belonging and identity as well as personal life-project, and shaping at the same time the city-scape.

The reading of these peculiar narratives allows to address important issues at the intersection between urban space, indigenous epistemologies and new socio-ecological assemblages: how are different life-projects and life-words enacted within the urban context? How are the spaces of Latin American cities manipulated and contested through indigenous performances, subversive aesthetics and other means speaking to the public arena? What images (and imaginations) of 'nature' are put into play? And, finally, are urban indigenous perspectives and ecological discourses part of the emerging new ecologies of urbanism?

The proposed panel aims at reflecting on the lived experiences of indigenous people in Latin American cities. Their political, artistic and socio-cultural practices and narratives are addressed as meaningful frames for new forms of collective actions and selves, shaping the experience of belonging and the negotiation of identity within everyday life in the urban context. Providing important insights about processes of decolonization of environmental knowledge, new epistemologies and indigenous cosmo-politics are taken into account for exploring current transformations as well as the future shapes of the city of the global south.

Accepted papers:

Session 1 Saturday 2 June, 2018, -