Transmisión del conocimiento agropecuario en el pueblo Arhuaco a través del análisis integrado de redes sociales y la sustentabilidad de unidades productivas familiares

Abstract

Agroecological practices contribute to the sustainability of agroecosystems, where indigenous communities are habitual references for their management of the territory. In this sense, the native Arhuaco people deploy endogenous processes of resistance against the acculturative influence of Colombian society, among them, their own educational model. This work identifies the referent and intermediary actors, and their flows in the communication of local knowledge towards the agricultural family productive unit, on aspects involved in the concept of good living, disaggregated into items (agricultural, social, cultural, economic and political), with a view to the planning of participatory processes of technological linkage. Based on semi-structured interviews based on local knowledge and sustainability criteria, an analysis of social networks was carried out, specifying the characteristics of the network -intermediation, modularity and excentrality-. Deep-rooted customs were recorded, such as pagamentos, ancestral medicine, the use of fire, the protection of surface water and the rejection of chemical synthesis products. The referents of the productive units evaluated are their family groups, people they trust, the cabildo and spiritual authorities, and some external actors. The most central nodes were the family, followed by the Association of Indigenous Authorities of the Sierra (ASOCIT) and the Arhuaco cabildo. It is concluded that from the dissemination of the ethno-educational model and through the orality of the internal referents, the scope of good living is promoted, in accordance with the Law of Origin. Hybrid technological innovation does not conflict with this law either, as it incorporates elements of traditional knowledge and enriches them with other ecological practices to update the Arhuaco way of life to the new demands of the climatic vulnerability of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.