Les vestiges comme source de légitimation territoriale

Abstract

Drawing from local records of material remains, such as different objects and presences of different beings, including nonhumans, in this paper we will address the way indigenous and riverside populations in Brazil and Argentina communicate their relations to the territory to cultural heritage authorities and others. The material remains, pointing to certain striking landscapes, have an active role in the legitimation process of identities and the articulation of territorial claims. Certain material remains are used by local actors to justify the presences of nonhuman entities, through their interactions with humans, as well as to establish links between themselves and previous generations.

Drawing from local records of material vestiges of the past, understood here in the broad sense of objects and traces of different presences including those of nonhumans, this paper addresses how indigenous and riverside populations in Brazil and Argentina communicate their relations with the territory to the cultural heritage authorities. The vestiges, which draw attention to specific landscapes, play an active role in legitimating identities and articulating territorial claims. Furthermore, some of them are used by local actors to provide evidence of the presence of nonhuman entities whose interactions with humans establish links with previous generations.