Disputes of the senses in the ways of inhabiting the world. A conceptual proposal to (re) think the habitat in intercultural terms

Abstract

The article that we present here is part of a research / extension process that lasted for more than two years in the Puna and Chaco of Salta, in northern Argentina, with significant interaction with the Kolla de Hurcuro and Wichí de El peoples. Cocal (2017-2019). We tried to understand the forms of habitat production from the study of the relationships expressed in the configuration of the above and below habitat dimensions (Gonzalez, 2020) in the development of two experiences aimed at the implementation of technologies based on unconventional energies in the mentioned territory. A particularity of both experiences is due to the fact that both projects belong to the National University of Salta (UNSa) with said indigenous communities.

In order to recognize and understand the specific forms that the supra and infra habitat configurations present in the habitat production experiences in the Puna and in the Salteño Chaco (2017-2019), we built a research project that responds to our political interests, epistemological and ontological. The design of the conceptual theoretical proposal, which we present here, represents an effort that sought to give relevance to the research process in coherence with the object of study. For this reason, we critically review the presence of “universal” notions in the analysis of habitat production, incorporating the perspective of the decolonial option and southern epistemologies to the conceptual framework (Gonzalez, 2020). Finally, the theoretical reflection that we present here aims to contribute to the challenge to hegemonic traditions and an epistemic commitment that contributes to the dismantling of the Modern Colonial Civilization Model in the field of habitat studies.