Nomadism and ethnicity. Decolonization of the sedentary as a place of enunciation.

Abstract

A generally adopted assumption exists, suggesting that sedentarization is a natural evolutionary process. In such literature, “nomadism” appears in a spectral way: “nomadic” is a footprint, an insinuated word, justs lightly different from “mobility" or “trashumance”. However, the term “nomadic” seems to be unmentionable, secret. On the contrary, we support that sedentarization is not just unnatural or inevitable, but in some cases, it is the result of a colonial power relationship, of a forced and violent imposition. On the basis of the ethnographic record gathered between 2004 and 2017 in the Lavalle desert in the province of Mendoza (Argentina), we try to show nomadic dynamics in connection with diverse studies and theoretical approaches on nomadism in other parts of the world. For that purpose, we articulate arguments of the nomadic philosophy with anthropological studies, in an effort to approach nomadism in its whole scope and complexity, from the political, cultural and economic points of view.