Simple yet extensive landscape modifications made past agrarian societies resilient to climate change.

Cruz, P., R. Joffre, C. Bernard, N. Egan, B. Roux, and T. Winkel. 2022. Social adaptive responses to a harsh and unpredictable environment: insights from a pre-Hispanic andean society. Ecology and Society 27(2):29. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13207-270229

This article examines the agrarian landscape in one part of the southern Andes (Quebrada of Humahuaca, Jujuy, Argentina). The region possesses extensive and well-preserved archaeological remains of agricultural systems, which stretch back to pre-Hispanic times. In this study, we employ an interdisciplinary approach in our analysis of the components that structure the agrarian landscape, especially those historical processes that intervened in its formation. The creation of a cartographic base, built from remote sensing and fieldwork data, allowed for the identification of four principal components of the landscape, each of which correspond to distinct phases or periods that mark the region’s history. Our study shows that, in contrast to what is observed in many other rural areas, the successive productive dynamics that developed in the area did not result in the destruction of previous productive structures. Rather, the agrarian landscape in the study area presents a multi-temporal agglutinating combination or composition, which transcends historical discontinuities in the productive matrix. This is owing to the partial reutilisation of previous structures in each period; however, religious and cultural factors play an important role. The agrarian landscape we studied is not only a passive result of human activity, but also a force influencing the productive and lifestyle decisions of the peasant populations that live there today. Our research amplifies the understanding of agrarian landscapes in the Andes and shows how past temporalities are articulated with the present through a dialectical process.

Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente addresses socioenvironmental issues

Este trabajo examina la fragmentación del Estado boliviano por medio de una mirada acerca de las dinámicas fronterizas que se dieron a finales del siglo XIX y comienzos del XX. En su búsqueda de construir un Estado centralizado, las zonas de frontera con Chile, Perú y Argentina eran consideradas por los políticos liberales bolivianos como espacios anárquicos. Sin embargo, más que una ausencia, encontramos en estas zonas una fragmentación extrema de la estructura estatal en distintos niveles administrativos, los que contaron con una cierta autonomía y respondieron a sus propios intereses y agendas políticas. Durante un momento clave para la consolidación del Estado liberal boliviano, en el que se firmaron numerosos tratados internacionales y se construyeron las principales líneas de ferrocarriles, las tensiones provocadas por esta fragmentación y multiplicidad de intereses confluyeron en marginalizar las poblaciones indígenas de los circuitos comerciales prexistentes. Analizaremos aquí tanto las tensiones y conflictos que surgieron entre los distintos niveles estatales como los impactos que tuvieron las reformas liberales en la actividad comercial en manos de la población indígena.