Territorialities, spiritualities and bodies

Contemporary social problems have shaped a new non-disciplinary field of Social Studies that advances in criticism as creation and experimentation and that aims at another way of thinking about difference and multiplicity that articulates the epistemological, the political, the aesthetic and the ethical.

In this direction, the CLACSO Working Group on Territorialities, Spiritualities and Bodies It addresses, in relation to territorialization, other bodies and spirituality as aesthetics and configurations of the self. The strategic value of these three themes lies in shaping peace in territories, transforming life in all its expressions, the daily actions of individuals, and the possibility of creative forms of resistance in the face of the complexity and specificity of Latin American conditions. This implies, consequently, the construction of new approaches to thought capable of rethinking and challenging classical notions of body, spirituality, and territory in light of the social and political processes that our countries are experiencing, as well as their struggles and knowledge.

For the period 2019-2022, in accordance with this general purpose, the Working Group proposes the possibility of making visible the construction of certain ways of knowing, articulating, and acting through critical thinking connected to the creative realm and epistemological convergences that make it possible to consolidate pathways for critique and resistance based on analytical and propositional work related to the problem of territory, the question of the body, and the challenge that spirituality poses for contemporary societies. These goals allow for the consolidation of actions that explore research as a guiding principle, but also interaction with diverse communities and collectives, so that different modes of organization and dissemination are built, fostering not only the development of new concepts and methodologies in the academic sphere, but also pathways for empowerment and social action.

Starting from this initial premise, and from a critical perspective, the Working Group seeks to establish the theoretical, methodological, and epistemological frameworks necessary to rethink the role of Social Studies in addressing situated problems within Latin American reality and their direct connections to territorialization, subjectivities, spirituality, power, and politics. Ultimately, what becomes clear is this working group's primary commitment to life as it unfolds through a commitment to immanent spirituality, to posthuman existences and bodies, to the configuration of territories that make these inorganic lives possible, and also to proactive policies capable of impacting both public policy and the daily lives of diverse communities in Latin America.

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