title: Indigenous landscapes in Caspana: exploring a Ch'ixi epistemology
Creators: name: Miranda Correa, Melisa
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Caspana
subject: landscapes
subject: Northern Chile
subject: Likan Antai community
subject: Likan Antai
subject: Aymara
subject: Pacha
subject: time-space
subject: ch’ixi
subject: Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui
subject: Quechua

description: This thesis explores Indigenous landscapes and methodologies in Northern Chile in co-labouring with Caspana, a Likan Antai community. It consists of epistemic reflections within Caspana's Indigenous knowledge systems, drawing upon the Indigenous paradigm while acknowledging my non-Indigenous positionality. The study incorporates Aymara philosophy as an alternative epistemology, mainly focusing on concepts such as Pacha, time-space, and ch’ixi as the juxtaposition of contrasting elements. This approach acknowledges the limitations of an external researcher in fully comprehending Indigenous worldviews. Rather than seeking a complete understanding of Indigenous knowledge, the study recognises the existence of partial connections, allowing for temporary windows of mutual comprehension between different worldviews. This approach fosters respect for diverse ways of being and challenges academic hierarchies and societal roles. In practical terms, I engaged with the people of Caspana using methods that enabled them to decide on the research themes: placenames, rock art, and medicinal plants. Therefore, this dissertation recounts the decisions, processes, and projects from my collaboration with Indigenous groups. Thus, it presents a resulting methodology, plus a position towards the landscape that pays attention to their deep connection to it through reciprocity, which is fundamental today in times of climate and environmental crisis. I began this thesis by proposing an intuitive methodology, co-labour, that prioritised the interests and perspectives of people from Caspana. In co-labouring, that is, working together and acknowledging our epistemic differences, visual methods played a crucial role in this research, particularly in the adaptation to an online mode due to the pandemic. The concept of esquejes, which involves configuring new objects based on initial elements such as territory, rock art, and plants, is discussed in depth. Maps are utilised to visualise relationality, and maquettes are created to activate collective memory and explore placenames in the Indigenous language. Therefore, following their guide, they have channelled different research moments. First, a pre-pandemic interaction allowed the collection of placenames, followed by site visits, which activated the collective memory of those participating in the model-making. In addition, I visited rock art sites guided by Luisa, a local interpreter of the signs and the stories of the landscape embedded in those images. Later, as the pandemic arrived, adapting to online collaboration allowed me to pursue a grant to collect medicinal plants throughout Caspana's territory. Therefore, an ethnographic writing style today reveals how every interaction has dealt with storytelling, collective memory, place identity and territory. The findings of this thesis involved a retrospective analysis of my approach to Indigenous peoples. By exploring the ch’ixi condition inspired by Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, I elucidate that the landscape originates within our bodies, as our organs interact with the environment. This understanding is embodied in amuyt'aña, which involves perceiving and comprehending the world through our upper organs or chuyma. Using placenames, esquejes enabled me to connect partially with the landscape's structure, particularly the interplay between the aran (mountain) and urin (water), as Germán conveyed through his stories or willakuy in Quechua. By studying rock art with Luisa, I gained insights into how Indigenous communities reclaim time and space, known as Pacha kuti, and how the chullpas, as embodiments of space-time, hold significance in their understanding of the landscape. These visits to sacred sites and engaging in acts of reciprocity, or ayni in Quechua and Aymara, allowed me to experience a different sense of time. Lastly, through the medicinal plant collection project, I recognised the profound influence of the ch’ixi condition on new practices and uses of plants, including those that have been introduced, and I also investigated the concept of Indigenous herbal landscape. Additionally, I discuss the limitations of applying Northern landscape theories to Indigenous landscapes and emphasise the importance of decolonisation as a necessary practice. In terms of contributions, this thesis significantly advances the integration of Indigenous methodologies and principles into research conducted within Indigenous territories. Furthermore, the primary contribution of this research lies in its methodological approach that can be applied to broader fields of Indigenous studies. It also provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities when non-Indigenous scholars engage with Indigenous knowledge. Thus, this thesis contributes to ongoing decolonisation efforts by centring Indigenous voices, knowledge systems, and perspectives, enriching our perception of landscapes. By employing esquejes, the study establishes a means of accessing and engaging with Indigenous worldviews while offering insights into decolonisation studies deeply rooted in Indigenous terms and concepts.