Conference on territories in Latin America

Quito, lunes 15 abril 2019
Carlos Porto during his talk
Carlos Porto during his talk

 

During the 17th Meeting of Latin American Geographers, the Brazilian researcher Carlos Porto Goncalves, professor at Universidad Federal Fluminense de Rio de Janeiro, presented a conference on territories. This event was organized by the Management of local sustainable development undergraduate program, the Development and State Research Group and the students' federation.

The aim of this event was to talk about social construction in certain territories, which refers to the processes of appropriation of spaces, natural resources and people. Professor Goncalves believes that all cultures are incomplete, regarding territories he said we need to think about the world's systems from two views:  capitalist and territorial. "The role of social and indigenous movements are important. Social movements denature the territory and create a debate because within a national territory there are multiple territorialities where we can find groups that fight for life and dignity", he said. 

He also stated that debates on territories is perhaps the best form of expressing the nature of social relationships and the power of territories. 

Before the conference, there was the closing of the event "Tejiendo lazos entre territorios", organized by women defenders of Latin America, who gave their opinions about the new context that affects the territories of their communities.

The event was attended by Jose Juncosa, vice president of our branch campus in Quito; Pablo Ortiz, director of the Management of local sustainable development undergraduate program; and Sarai Maldonado, vice president of the students association.