Transformaciones Socioterritoriales en disputa. El caso del cerro Perito Moreno (Patagonia Argentina)

Abstract

In the territory, the actors’ different conceptions, values and objectives come into play. Different types of relationships between human beings and nature result in varied ways of conceiving the environment and development, which generate tension when reshaping territories, influenced by its specific geomorphological characteristics. This work focuses on a case study in El Bolsón, Río Negro, Argentinean Andean Patagonia. This paper presents the analysis of the representations and practices of the parties involved in the different phases of the conflict between 2010 and 2017 studying the primary and secondary sources and implementing in-depth interviews with key informants and participant observation. The study exposed the influence of the current hegemonic development model and the resistance strategies to it, connected with post-development, present in the representations of the parties involved. In the last decades, landscape appreciation, together with improvements in communications and telecommunications, has added new actors and new logics connected with nature contemplation and disconnected from traditional means of production. These factors have begun to reconfigure the territory of El Bolsón causing tension between the use value and the exchange value of its lands, being the Comprehensive Development of Perito Moreno hill the main exponent of this junction. The project is a ski-village similar in size to El Bolsón town, located in the water head basin, near the small ski-center currently running. Some people believe it is a necessary investment to boost development in the town through tourism, while others believe that it is a threat to the environment and the lifestyle, related to “BuenVivir”.