"Always standing, never kneeling": Construction, enunciation, and reproduction of K'ana identity in Espinar

Abstract

In recent decades, the province of Espinar has been marked by socio-environmental conflicts resulting from mining activity. Over the years, negotiations have yielded innovative achievements, such as the Framework Agreement. However, conflicts have always remained latent. This situation reflects the importance of approaching the sociopolitical phenomena occurring in Espinar from other perspectives. This work, specifically, sought to analyze how K'ana Indigenous identity is constituted in Espinar and how it relates to other political processes taking place in the province. To this end, a series of interviews were conducted with key stakeholders and relevant data were collected through participant observation. The results of this research show that K'ana Indigenous identity is an arena of political negotiation in which a series of historical and political narratives are reproduced. The conflict scenario has brought these identity-based discourses to the surface, making them increasingly prevalent, and, at the same time, has led the population to find in their indigenous identity a unifying factor and a key tool in negotiation processes.