Ancestral Practices for Water and Land Management: Experiences in a Latin American Indigenous Reserve

Abstract

The identification and analysis of mythical images and ancestral practices that make up the ethnos of a community allow us to know its ways of existing in the cosmos. The objective of this paper is to analyze the ancestral experiences associated with the dynamics of socio-environmental management that the Emberá Indigenous reserve (Chocó, Colombia) carries out for the conservation of water and land. This study is qualitative and ideographic. We also adopted an ethnographic approach to provide a detailed description of water and land management practices, which correspond to their cultural patterns. Using Atlas Ti V.6.0 software, we identify and analyze these cultural patterns. The results show that the ecosystemic relationships offered by the Emberá worldview are part of a true connection with their spiritual world, which fosters respect for the natural elements and understanding of universal natural laws. These relationships are manifested through gifts and penance. The Emberá beliefs and religion are a possible methodology for the sustainable management of water and land and, consequently, of the basin where they live. The success of their ethnodevelopment depends significantly on the power figures of their culture: the Jaibana (their gods), the elders, and the Emberá woman as a cultural agent. The Emberá worldview is possibly a valid instrument to enable the sustainable development of modern communities.