Poner el cuerpo para cuidar el territorio. Mujeres mapuche frente al extractivismo y la conservación, en Neuquén, Argentina

Abstract

We reflect on the political organization processes of Mapuche women in territories demarcated as “protected areas” and “sacrifice areas” in Neuquén, Argentina. Beyond the differences, both conservation and protection as well as sacrifice and risk, question the rights of Mapuche communities over the territories, rising socio-environmental conflicts in which women and their practices, knowledge and bodies take a leading role. From an ethnographic and ecofeminist perspective, we investigate the practices and meanings of care, proposing a reflection on what we define as “the political”, seeking to study how care, “poner el cuerpo” and the reproduction of life become forms of politics that allow dispute rights over territories that are redefined based on their protection or sacrifice.