Suchergebnisse

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552 ; La forma en la que se problematiza el mundo real, se ve reflejada en los discursos sociales que existen en una sociedad. Este trabajo estudia los discursos sobre la naturaleza, el territorio y lo rural en Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca es la tercera ciudad en importancia del Ecuador, es una ciudad mediana (331.000 habitantes en su zona urbana) y de altura (2.530 m s.n.m.), que se encuentra en los Andes al sur del país. Entre muchas otras cosas, es famosa por sus iniciativas públicas de conservación de las fuentes hídricas, y también por sus políticas de gestión ambiental. Para estudiar las percepciones de la sociedad cuencana referentes a su entorno natural, se aplicó una variante del método Q para el estudio de subjetividad humana, desarrollado por el físico y psicólogo William Stephenson. Se identificó cuatro discursos, a los que se llamó por puros fines didácticos como: conservacionista, tecnocrático, desarrollista y sistémico. Se encontró una urbanización de las percepciones de la naturaleza, el territorio y lo rural, que encaja en las ideas de la modernización ecológica, la ecogubermentalidad, y la ecoeficiencia. ; This work critically explores the construction of ideas about nature and territory, contrasting them with the Andean indigenous paradigm of Sumak Kawsay. Included in the 2008 Ecuadorian Constitution, Sumak Kawsay and the rights of nature were then transformed into national public policies. This analysis examines the discourses about nature, territory, landscape, biodiversity, the urban sphere and the rural sphere in the medium-sized city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Placed at 2,530 meters above sea level, this Andean city is host to 331,000 inhabitants. Adapting the Q method for subjectivity research in order to study Cuenca's population perceptions, we found four clearly defined discourses. Each discourse was named just for identification purposes: the conservationist discourse, the technocratic discourse, the developmental discourse and the systemic discourse. These discourses are based on a dichotomy between nature and society. Additionally, three of the discourses were strongly influenced by eco-governability mechanisms of the ecological modernization and eco-efficiency discourses. Nevertheless, the systemic discourse indicates that an intercultural dialogue and a philosophical and conceptual re-integration of nature and society have been started, so the conceptual gestation of Sumak Kawsay has been begun.

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552 ; Over the last five decades the discursive debate on sustainability has reached prominence as the socio-ecological impacts of the human presence on Earth have grown rapidly. Nature discourses are interwoven with those of sustainability. Within this discursive field, a diverse set of competing discourses have emerged. Among the most radical ones, the discourse of Buen Vivir has recently gained relevance in Latin America. This position aims to depart from modern western ideologies, mainly those of nature-society dualism and Eurocentric universalism. In this study, the social perspectives about nature-society of subnational policy makers and other social actors involved in territorial planning in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador are examined. Four main social discourses are identified, which instead of breaking away from the society-nature divide, embrace it. Therefore, the case of Cuenca suggests that Ecuadorian citizens (including policy-makers) are still captured by the same discourses on nature-society belonging to the discursive field of modernity and its more contemporary corollaries: development and sustainable development. Hence, relational ontologies promoted by the discourse of Buen Vivir still do not resonate among Ecuadorian policy-related actors.

This research explores critical environmental concepts from the standpoint of political ecology. It contrasts the Ecuadorian Kichua indigenous concept of Sumak Kawsay (i.e., living well), with discourses about natural, urban and rural areas. Sumak Kawsay was included in Ecuador's 2008 constitution as an alternative to the neoclassical idea of development. This work reveals interesting insights from a variety of social and political viewpoints from both rural and urban areas. The research is based on the medium sized city of Cuenca, which is located in the southern Ecuadorian Andes. We used an adaptation of the Q Method to investigate stakeholders' perceptions. Four remarkably well-defined viewpoints were revealed. Although these views contrast strongly with Sumak Kawsay, it is possible to transform this paradigm in the foundation of Cuenca's public policies and institutional structure.