Applied Montology Using Critical Biogeography in the Andes

IBARRA, J. TOMÁS; ROZZI, RICARDO; SARMIENTO, FAUSTO O.; PIZARRO, J. CRISTÓBAL; FROLICH, LARRY M.; BARREAU, ANTONIA ; GONZÁLEZ, JUAN A.

Annals of the American Association of Geographers

Taylor & Francis

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2017 vol. 107 p. 416 - 428

2469-4452

More than most other landforms, mountains have been at the vanguard of geographical inquiry. Whether promontories, cultural works on slopes, or even metaphorical/spiritual heights, mountain research informs current narratives of global environmental change. We review how montology shifts geographic paradigms via the novel approach of critical biogeography in the Andes. We use it to bridge nature and society through indigenous heritage, local biodiversity conservation narratives, and vernacular nature?culture hybrids of bioculturallandscapes (BCLs), focusing on how socioecological systems (SES) enlighten scientific query in the Andes. In our Andean study cases, integrated critical frameworks guide the understanding of BCLs as the product of longterm human?environment interactions.With situated exemplars from place naming, wild edible plants, medicinal plants, sacred trees, foodstuffs, ritualistic plants, and floral and faunal causation, we convey the need for cognition of mountains as BCLs in the Anthropocene. We conclude that applied montology allows for a multimethod approach with the four Cs of critical biogeography, a model that engages forward-looking geographers and interdisciplinary Andeanists in assessments for sustainable development of fragile BCLs in the Andes.