Interdiscipline and Territory Categories for the critical análisis of heritage

Abstract

The present work is based on the unpublished doctoral thesis research called "Heritage and Extractivism", in which an analysis is made of the effects of the patrimonialisation of the semi-desert of Querétaro when it was inscribed on the UNESCO list as ICH Intangible Cultural Heritage with the expression "Places of memory and living traditions of the Otomí-Chichimeca peoples of Tolimán. La Peña de Bernal, guardian of a sacred territory". The aim of the article is to present a theoretical discussion on the interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of complex realities such as the processes of heritage processes of cultural property, situating ourselves in the case in question. We present two elements that contribute to the interdisciplinary analysis of territory; the first is the structural reforms that have been implemented in Mexico since 2004 to date, the aim of which is the commodification of natural and cultural assets, and the second is the weighting of local practices of care and conservation that, based on a biocultural understanding of territory, preserve the environment while producing and reproducing everyday life. This analysis will therefore serve to make our gaze more complex towards the places that inhabit culture at the same time as they participate in mercantilised logics.