Spaces for Transdisciplinary Dialogues on the Relationship between Local Communities and their Environment: The Case of a Rural Community in the Calchaqui Valley (Salta, Argentina)

CRIVOS, MARTA; MARTINEZ MARÍA ROSA; TEVES, LAURA; REMORINI, CAROLINA

Anthropology in Action

Berghahn Journals

Lugar: New York; Año: 2016 vol. 23 p. 27 - 34

0967-201X

This chapter presents an intersectoral reflection to identify those issues related to the changes the natural and social environments are suffering, and to search for ways of fostering the sustainable development of practices and resources at the local and global levels. The chapter focuses the perception and the use of components of the natural environment in terms of routine activities carried out by the inhabitants of a rural community in the Calchaqui Valley (Salta, Argentina). Life in this community is characterized by the presence of traditional subsistence activities: agriculture, cattle farming, textile manufacturing, and ancestral medical practices coexisting with business ventures focused on monoculture and export, tourism centered on landscape intervention and the promotion of native products, and the growing key role of public policies in the areas of health and human development. In this context, a joint reflection on viability and sustainability of local and global practices and resources must be undertaken. Implementing intersectoral forums and focus group discussions, governmental and non-governmental actors, researchers and natives must work conjointly to achieve a fresh patrimonial awareness of livelihood strategies based on their long interaction with a specific environment. This interaction will help identify those issues related to the rapid changes in social and natural environments and search for ways of fostering the sustainable development of the resources involved in activities regarding the identity and the subsistence of the local community.