"Territory is where there is struggle": meanings about urban and rural territories

Abstract

In April 2016, the Second Workshop of the Popular University of Social Movements (UPCM), coordinated by Boaventura De Sousa Santos and organized by the University Extension Secretariat (SEU) of the National University of Córdoba (UNC), was held in Córdoba, Argentine Republic. Twenty-six activists and leaders from different regions of the country took part in the meeting. They are members of organizations belonging to different indigenous peoples, whose struggles are linked to the popular economy, urban and rural movements, and environmentalists against mega-mining.
The axis of the workshop was to think about the meaning of the territories and the struggles that are built around them. This debate contributed to reflect collectively on the lessons learned, experiences and strategies of these struggles, which helped to strengthen, express and articulate with other movements to dispute with various hegemonic powers. Recovering what was debated in the Workshop, the objective of this article is to share an analysis of the senses around territories, and the ways in which these are reconfigured as the struggle itself within the framework of the different strategies and perspectives of each organization and of the participants of the Workshop.