Breaking Ground

“It’s not just land that is broken, but more importantly, our relationship to land” - R.W. Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

The idea that we are separated from nature is the deepest wound of Western culture - a culture that has the illusion of building barriers between humans and the natural world, often even fostering the idea of superiority. This mindset has enabled the relentless, unsustainable exploitation of the earth, stripping it of its living essence and reducing it to lifeless objects, to be controlled, consumed, and commodified.

Yet, as the concept of Cuerpo-Territorio (“Body-Territory”, a research method rooted in Latin American critical geography) teaches us, there is an unbreakable bond between the body and the land; what happens to one also happens to the other. For women this bond runs deep, as patriarchy and capitalism have built systems that mirror the exploitation of the earth with the subjugation of women’s bodies, treating both as resources to be consumed. For Indigenous peoples, the rupture has been even more violent, as colonialism not only ruthlessly extracted material wealth from the land, but also severed the profound cultural and spiritual relationships that have long sustained communities and ways of life.

If you want to know more, we’ll explore Cuerpo-Territorio and other decolonial practices in our next newsletter.