That which will become the earth: anarcho-indigenous speculative geographies.

This essay utilizes an anarcho-indigenous/mestize lens to explore how the Guaraní concept of teko'a (tekoha) (settlement/village/community) can lead to different formations of the ways in which we relate to each other and to the earth. It is both a philosophical inquiry that aims to challenge the nation-state and capitalism, and also a practice of speculative geographies that imagines possible futures along with the creation of "a new world in the shell of the old" inspired by Indigenous epistemologies.

Attachments

Escauriza Journal des Anthropologues.pdf (302.87 KB)

Comments

This is a great essay. A

This is a great essay. A short example of one of the gems in there:

teko means “to be, a state of being, our way of being,
our culture, one’s temperament”, sã means “rope, chain, obstacle,
slavery”, and sõ means “to cut or break”. Teko sãsõ is how you say
“free / the state of being free”, but it literally means “to exist in a
state of cutting that which binds you or keeps you from being free”,
which implies that to be free requires action. The concept is a
lesson both for the one who seeks their freedom − you must take
action and “cut” that which keeps you from being free − and for the
one who seeks to take someone’s freedom − your actions have put
you on the wrong side of the Guaraní blade and you will be cut. In
Guaraní epistemology, to exist freely requires you to actively resist
oppression. Within this framework, you yourself are responsible for
your emancipation, and the construction of a state of freedom is a
constant act of engaging with forces that keep you from being free.