"CONSERVAR, HABITAR, MEDIAR". Una etnografía del Área Natural Protegida Río Azul - Lago Escondido.

Abstract

The fire that started in the Río Azul – Lago Escondido Natural Protected Area (A.N.P.R.A.L.E.) highlighted both the institutional fragility of the area and the material and symbolic difficulties faced by the rangers in the performance of their duties. As I will develop throughout this thesis, the event acted as a catalyst for old, unresolved tensions and starkly exposed the limits of environmental governance in contexts where state presence is diffuse, fragmented, and, at the same time, deeply embedded in local social ties. Thus, the objective of this thesis is to understand - within the framework of the A.N.P.R.A.L.E. - the links established between the State and local inhabitants, taking into account, on the one hand, the complex process of spatialization and comprehensive verticality (Ferguson and Gupta, 2002) of the institutions that comprise it and, on the other hand, the embodiment of the State in the Provincial Corps of Environmental Guards (CPGA). To do this, it will be necessary to anthropologically describe the dynamics of this relationship and how it affects the parties involved territorially and socially, also considering the implications for the management and use of the territory. In this sense, the question that arises is: what territorial management possibilities does the Secretariat of Environment and Climate Change (SAyCC) of the province of Río Negro exercise, considering that the interaction between the State—represented by environmental rangers (ERs)—and local residents is crisscrossed by family ties, regulatory ambivalences, and disputes over the use and control of space? This raises the need to pay attention to the representations that each of the actors involved has regarding the land, the protected area, and themselves. Added to this is the complexity of this relationship, as the functions of the ERs are limited by an unfinished institutional framework, which, far from resolving the structural conflicts of territorial management, reproduces and deepens them. To demonstrate this, I will first begin with some contextual notes on A.N.P.R.A.L.E. and its personnel, which will allow us to frame the territorial and social dynamics that permeate the area. Next, I will develop the theoretical framework that guides this thesis, followed by the methodological strategy employed, which combines my experience as a field worker, resident, and researcher. Finally, I will briefly describe the overall structure of the paper, which organizes the proposed analytical journey.