Non-Western Epistemology and the Understanding of the Pachamama (Environment) Within the World(s) of the Aymara Identity

• Main Author: Yaneth Katia Apaza Huanca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Queensland University of Technology 2019-08-01
• Series: International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
• Subjects: Aymara from Bolivia; Mother Earth; Nature; non-Western epistemology; Pachamama; Western epistemology
• Online Access: https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/1241

The purpose of this article is to understand, from the perspective of the Bolivian Aymara identity of Bolivia, the intrinsic relation these persons have with Nature. This task is developed through the study of what they call Pachamama (sacred Mother Earth), which is part of their identity as an ‘all interrelated whole, the Suma Qamaña or Good Living’, and which can be considered a non-Western epistemology. Their worldview breaks with the Western (anthropocentric) conception of environment that informs European and Anglo-Saxon continental law, and that is currently predominant in international standards of reference. Proponents of this perspective achieved a transformation in the international treatment of Nature, recognised by the United Nations (Resolution 63/278 of 2009, promoted by the Bolivian State), gaining inspiration from the inclusion by Ecuador of Pacha Mama (Nature) as a subject of rights in its constitution (2008).