Multivocality and sustainability on earthen heritage. Participative working strategies with Indigenous Communities in Argentina

TOMASI, JORGE; BARADA, JULIETA

Edmonton

Congreso; APT & National Trust for Canada 2020 Joint Conference; 2020

Heritage management in indigenous communities implies considering the existence of a shared responsibility between local actors and institutions, but also a review of some hegemonic concepts about heritage to achieve a true understanding of its complexity, for a sustainable assessment. Although in recent years the consideration of the role of local actors in heritage conservation has been subject of stimulating discussions within heritage institutions and organizations, incorporation of other voices on management and conservation projects has been more focused on the search of harmonic consensus than on the pose of a real crisis in historical hegemonic senses. In this context, the way in which communities themselves have defined, valued and conserved their heritage over time, associated with both technical and social knowledge are still invisible.This paper is oriented to the analysis of two projects in progress with two indigenous communities, Yavi and Rinconada, in the highlands of Jujuy (Argentina), that seek to delve into this problematic, considering the recognition of local senses as starting point. First project is related to the conservation of an historic house in Yavi built in colonial times; second one focuses on the development of a housing prototype en Rinconada based on local practices and techniques. While the first one is aimed at conservation in a more traditional sense, the second seeks to address heritage preservation of local knowledge and practices from contemporary architecture. Both projects share a participative methodology, associated with an ethnographic approach, in pursuit of a symmetrical construction of knowledge with communities, discussing established hegemonic logics, towards a conception of heritage that considers local senses. Participative instances were not limited to consultation, but started on the debate of the conception of heritage and their conservation senses both in terms of architectural objects and of cultural practices and knowledge. This double approach to heritage conservation tries to consider multiple interests intervening in the management of heritage in a symmetrical way, with a perspective not only focused on specific actions but on sustainable strategies over time.