Wire fences in Puna de Atacama: wire, desert and capitalism

Authors

  • Nicolas Richard
  • Consuelo Hernández

Abstract

One of the most perceptible changes in the landscape of the Puna de Atacama in the last two decades is the appearance of different types of wire fences, until then non-existent in the area, where other fencing technologies prevailed (pircas, adobe walls, live fences, stone pens, etc.). The appearance of the wire fences announces the emergence of a new form of organization of limits (or "claustrological") and can be thought of according to three main problematic dimensions: a new way of organizing land ownership, a new way of organizing the relationship animal-vegetable and a new way of symbolizing or writing limits. The article examines three "fronts" of wire fencing in the southern Puna in Zoniquera (Bolivia), San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), and Cochinoca (Argentina).

Keywords:

puna, atacama, wire, fence, pastoralism, quinoa, land-parceling