Critical concepts in Latin America Geography

ZUSMAN, P.,

Jena

Workshop; International Summer School. Political Ecology and the Spatial Turn: From Living Spaces to Global Understanding; 2016

Universidad Friedrich Schiller.

Concepts have a performative character. It means that they do not only grasp the dynamic of historical, social and spatial processes but also participate in the production of these processes. At the same time concepts have political implications. Firstly, they can either legitimize the existing order or can contribute to redesign of other possible worlds. Secondly, they are involved in political struggles since their contents are shaped and redefined by social conflicts. The paper will present some discussions on ideas of territory and socio-spatial justice that are taking place in social sciences. Specifically, we want to establish a dialogue between the readings that emerge from the central countries and those originating in Latin America. Latin American perspectives are embedded in decolonial visions (they recognize the local character of knowledge and the need for diversifying places of enunciation) and in the conceptual redefinitions that are being carried out by different social movements of the region within the framework for their demands for recognition or social redistribution.