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The braid of water: Agua-cuerpo-terrritorio, water ontologies and horizons of re-existence in the Andes

Benitez Perez, Edgardo LU (2025) HEKM51 20251
Human Ecology
Human Geography
Department of Human Geography
Abstract
The present thesis outlines a frame to understand how agua-cuerpo-territorio enact spatial and narrative contestations in relation to water. Such ontologies are nourished identifying three main elements: memory, ancestrality and cosmoviviencias.
Through an ethnographic work in Bolivia working with women territorial defenders and by using narrative practices approach I sought to uplift, ancestral struggles, memories tied to claims of land justice and relational understandings of the world. Together such elements were braided together into counter-narratives that challenge the extractivist ontologies that extract and pollute water. Through the testimonies of the territorial defenders, this investigation shows how counter-narratives create... (More)
The present thesis outlines a frame to understand how agua-cuerpo-territorio enact spatial and narrative contestations in relation to water. Such ontologies are nourished identifying three main elements: memory, ancestrality and cosmoviviencias.
Through an ethnographic work in Bolivia working with women territorial defenders and by using narrative practices approach I sought to uplift, ancestral struggles, memories tied to claims of land justice and relational understandings of the world. Together such elements were braided together into counter-narratives that challenge the extractivist ontologies that extract and pollute water. Through the testimonies of the territorial defenders, this investigation shows how counter-narratives create spaces of resistance that bring to life to alternative worldmaking projects. Counter-spaces, as re-worlding acts, are shaped by, yet at the same time reproduce counter-narratives in a self-reinforcing dance. This thesis offers a metaphor, the braid of water, to describe how alternative ontologies are created and sustained, addressing political ontological questions within the field of human ecology. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Benitez Perez, Edgardo LU
supervisor
organization
course
HEKM51 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9188498
date added to LUP
2025-07-31 13:09:38
date last changed
2025-07-31 13:09:38
@misc{9188498,
  abstract     = {{The present thesis outlines a frame to understand how agua-cuerpo-territorio enact spatial and narrative contestations in relation to water. Such ontologies are nourished identifying three main elements: memory, ancestrality and cosmoviviencias. 
Through an ethnographic work in Bolivia working with women territorial defenders and by using narrative practices approach I sought to uplift, ancestral struggles, memories tied to claims of land justice and relational understandings of the world. Together such elements were braided together into counter-narratives that challenge the extractivist ontologies that extract and pollute water. Through the testimonies of the territorial defenders, this investigation shows how counter-narratives create spaces of resistance that bring to life to alternative worldmaking projects. Counter-spaces, as re-worlding acts, are shaped by, yet at the same time reproduce counter-narratives in a self-reinforcing dance. This thesis offers a metaphor, the braid of water, to describe how alternative ontologies are created and sustained, addressing political ontological questions within the field of human ecology.}},
  author       = {{Benitez Perez, Edgardo}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The braid of water: Agua-cuerpo-terrritorio, water ontologies and horizons of re-existence in the Andes}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}