New subjects, new narratives: the Nature and the People of Sarayaku

Abstract

In a time of profound transformations, conflicts and resistance, we will focus, from a philosophical-political approach, on the emergence of Nature as a subject of rights together with indigenous peoples and indigenous women involved in processes of struggle, negotiation and representation, as new political subjects in different levels of the public sphere. From this perspective, we will examine the incorporation of Nature as a subject of rights into the Constitution of Ecuador in 2008 and the struggles and methods of the Pueblo Originario Kichwa de Sarayaku (Ecuador), at both national and international levels against oil extractivism, taking into account the role that women play, and their interpretation of Sumak Kawsay (Good Living) and the Kawsak Sacha (Living Forest), and their contributions to the resolution of ecological and political conflicts. Besides making known and presenting Sarayaku as an exemplary case, it is concluded that the emergence of these «new subjects» puts us before a new and complex scenario which questions us from the Global South.