Decolonial memories and narratives in the “return to the land” of Rankülche ancestors from central Argentina

Abstract

In the "return to the land" ceremony or reburial of ancient rankülche ancestors from central Argentina memories, meanings, and narratives emerged in which the distinctions between past and present faded. In addition, meanings, assessments, and practices of the place were intensified within the framework of Indigenous worldviews and what we call "acting cosmographies." The reburial site, called Chapalcó Hill, was characterized as a sacred cemetery. Decisions about how to consider and name the bodies, the method of reburial, the narrative in their own language, and the characterization of the place were proposed by the rankülche. These experiences of self-management indicate that Indigenous agencies, through their positions and practices on the ground, activate epistemic, ontological, and political interpellations by challenging previous forms of state appropriation of restitution claims and academic ways of considering and addressing these processes. All of this constitutes concrete decolonial actions that question disciplinary forms of naming bodies, stage specific ways of being and existing in and with the territory, and challenge institutional ways of managing returns and reburials of ancestors. Furthermore, they signify the entire process in terms of the coordinates of the Indigenous language which, as the backbone of self-determination, is key to promoting specific areas for the decolonization of knowledge.