1 Patta hoiri and Likanantay people: rescuing the knowledge of the land Beatriz Bustos G., bbustos@rides.cl Hernán Blanco P., hblanco@rides.cl RIDES “The chant invokes the spirit of the hills of the kabures; in Peine seven hills of water that feed our town’s springs are invoked. There are male hills, female hills, the elders know that and they hold the knowledge, they invoke these beings so that they release the water, into the clouds, that bring it to the hill, that catches the water, to mother earth who makes it run through her veins and brings it down to us, and every year we ask to be brought water. For everyone, not just for us, it is for you, for all the people that are to come, for the whole of humanity.” Account given at community meeting, Séquitor, February 2004. CONTENTS 1. Introduction to the document: summary ..................................................................................... 1 2. Who are the Atacameños?........................................................................................................... 2 2.1. Heirs to an ancient tradition. ................................................................................................ 2 2.2. A people reshaping their past and present............................................................................ 3 2.3. A traditional community integrated into one nation..... and then another. ........................... 6 2.4. A community making the most of political opportunities.................................................... 7 3. The role of traditional knowledge in the community’s past and present .................................... 8 3.1. What do we mean by traditional knowledge? ...................................................................... 8 3.2. Atacameños’ appreciations on scientific knowledge ......................................................... 10 3.4. Challenges for integration .................................................................................................. 11 4. What have we done? ................................................................................................................. 12 5. Lessons for the evaluation. ........................................................................................................ 13 1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY The ‘Human Well Being and Sustainable Management of the Salar de Atacama’ project commenced in San Pedro de Atacama in June 2003, and is due to run for 16 months. Its objective is “to contribute to sustainable management of the ecosystems of the Salar de Atacama for human well being and conservation”. The objective of the first, recently completed, phase of the project was to set out the base lines for goods and services identified by the project, in order to begin evaluation (stage 2). While these base lines were being defined, efforts were also made to disseminate the project amongst the community and municipal authorities, in order to encourage participation from diverse stakeholders. This process met with resistance and there were indications that the community this investigation is inserted into possesses certain special characteristics that must be taken into consideration, particularly regarding local knowledge. The community has developed hostility towards initiatives proposed by foreigners and foreign institutions, due to both saturation by numerous cooperation projects and meetings and previous