Culture in for and as Sustainable Development

More documents

Recommendations

Info

STORY 5 RECONSTITUTING CULTURE Tradition and Modernisation: Natureculture interactions in the Atacama Desert in Chile 66 Landscapes can be seen as the materialisation of communities, culture and social relations in dynamic interaction with the natural world. Nature and culture co-evolve; each shapes and in turn is shaped by the other. The ongoing social and ecological transformation of the Atacama Desert in the Andes is a clear illustration of the complexity of this interaction. It shows that policies not taking a sensitive approach to culture and social change can cause unsustainable outcomes, even when seeking to do good (here, acknow- ledging the rights of indigenous people towards their resources). Recognised as the driest inhabited place on earth, the Atacama spans the borders between Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Rather than a barren strip of land, many parts of the region support a diversity of biological and geological forms, as well as a network of saltpans, lakes, hot springs and underground water resources. The combination of these qualities, together with the presence of archaeological vestiges of past cultures and the living legacies of the Atacameño culture, led to the establishment of the Flamencos Nature Reserve in the early 1990s. The entire north of Chile also contains an abundance of mineral resources such as copper and lithium. People have been living in Atacama since pre-Columbian times, and more recently, occupation by traditional communities has led to the development of small settlements such as Toconao and San Pedro de Atacama in oases that are scattered across the landscape. The natural resources historically provided indigenous peoples with a subsistence livelihood, nevertheless many migrated in search of employment, notably to the mining sector in other parts of the north of the Chile. Chile has a turbulent political past, and the election of a democratic government in 1989 brought both stability and further change. New democratic ideals led to the drawing-up of the 1993 Indigenous Peoples Act which recognised indigenous populations and began a progressive restitution of land and water rights. Although seemingly a positive step forward for the indigenous population, the way in which rights were distributed has proved problematic. ‘Indigenous’ was defined on ethnic grounds alone; anyone genetically related to an indigenous population was granted rights to traditional resources and new social benefits. This included people who had left the region; they were given the opportunity to register for a share of indigenous rights and to take advantage of from their ethnic background. This situation attracted indigenous people back to the towns of the Atacama Desert. These people, however, brought back new values that were not necessarily compatible with those of the traditional cultures that the newly acquired rights were supposed to protect. Instead of restoring the ‘traditional’ culture-nature nexus, the empowering of indigenous people thus entailed problematic effects as well. Indigenous populations who had remained in the area, with their particular dynamic of understanding and practice, suddenly found themselves sharing their ‘culture’ and environment with neo-indigenous immigrants who had different cultural values or understandings. As a result, instead of being strengthened, the relatively small existing com-
munities were disrupted by an influx of newly ‘indigenised’ people with a different cultural connection to the land. Consequently, divergent cultural meanings generated conflicts within the Atacama Desert community, notably when managing and deciding collectively over the newly returned land and water rights, including the Flamencos Nature Reserve. Furthermore, growing water scarcity caused by the expansionist needs of mining companies operating in a neoliberal setting add to the contemporary climate of tension and race for natural resources and water in the Atacama Desert. community, the assumption that all hold to the same cultural values cannot be made. The nature-culture nexus is a result of complex and continuously changing cultural, social and political connections built up over long periods of time. Policies which seek to protect culture and nature (in this example, those which grant democratic property rights to indigenous people) will also impact on and change cultural identity itself [38]. The key lesson to be learned is that culture is constantly changing, that it evolves rapidly, and that it cannot be regarded as an inherent genetic trait. Many countries around the world have indigenous populations and, while their culture often provides a framework for maintaining the 67 Information panel on the Atacameña culture, Pukara de Quitor (on top) and Pre-Columbian archaeological site Pukara de Quitor (below). Pictures: Constanza Parra
Page 1 and 2:
Culture in, for and as Sustainable
Page 3 and 4:
Culture in, for and as Sustainable
Page 5 and 6:
COST Action IS1007 Investigating Cu
Page 7 and 8:
Pictures by Joost Dessein 7
Page 9 and 10:
informed. Policies dealing with edu
Page 11 and 12:
Policies to increase sustainability
Page 13 and 14:
PROLOGUE 13
Page 15 and 16: that deal entitled ‘sustainable d
Page 17 and 18: THREE ROLES FOR CULTURE IN SUSTAINA
Page 19 and 20: provide greater economic justificat
Page 21 and 22: distinct intellectual disciplines a
Page 23 and 24: growth) is the only way ahead. This
Page 25 and 26: Defining culture in this way, howev
Page 27 and 28: The Faro Convention strongly sugges
Page 29 and 30: • Third, a role (‘culture as su
Page 31 and 32: …(s)ustainability is cultural by
Page 33 and 34: Three roles, many applications Depe
Page 35 and 36: The Saaheim power station in Rukjan
Page 37 and 38: CULTURE AT THE CROSSROADS OF POLICY
Page 39 and 40: Successful policies will normally b
Page 41 and 42: public art, street benches and ligh
Page 43 and 44: SUSTAINABILITY AND LEGITIMACY OF TH
Page 45 and 46: and education for supporting innova
Page 47 and 48: ASSESSING CULTURE IN SUSTAINABLE DE
Page 49 and 50: Cultural Sustainability in European
Page 51 and 52: Efforts to develop sustainability i
Page 53 and 54: etween countries, and without inter
Page 55 and 56: EPILOGUE 55
Page 57 and 58: There are obstacles. The occupation
Page 59 and 60: ight set of mutually-agreed rules a
Page 61 and 62: Returning with new ideas: future re
Page 63 and 64: • Expanding the evidence base for
Page 65: 65
Page 69 and 70: • Claudia Carvalho (PT) Universit
Page 71 and 72: 24. Chiesi, L. and Costa, P. 2015.
Page 73: Katriina Soini - Katriina.Soini@luk
show all

Culture in for and as Sustainable Development

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?