Ethnographic experience with/about Colla women: parenting and care practices

Abstract

This article presents an ethnographic study that investigates the care practices and experiences of raising Colla women in the Atacama region, Chile. The research is positioned from the feminist ethnography, since it is located and focused on the participants, recognizing them as cultural creators. The main results show varied knowledge and care practices associated with the upbringing of boys and girls, as well as life stories from the Andes that shape their upbringing and their new ways of (re) signifying care. The main conclusion is that care practices are historically constructed and embodied in the bodies and collective memory of Colla women, which are configured as ancestral knowledge. This allows them to position themselves as a cultural transmitter in their indigenous communities, being the mountain range tradition, forced migration, community life, collective motherhood and patriarchal violence key issues in their discourse.