Global InformationSumak kawsay information
Sumak kawsay is a neologism in Quechua invented in the 1990s by intellectuals, academics and experts in development working in or about Latin America and receiving a kind of sponsorship and technical advice by developmental cooperation agencies from Europe. Sumak kamaña in aymara was invented at first in the same conditions, similar neologisms were produced in another languages spoken by people classified as indigenous in Latin America. Originally created as a political and cultural proposal for countries with indigenous populations, Ecuadorian and Bolivian governments later adopted it to make new Constitutions. The term refers to the implementation of a kind of socialism that moves away from Western socialist theory and instead uses an idea of ancestral, communitarian knowledge and lifestyle of Quechua speaking people, the most of then living in peasant communities since the Colonial period. In Ecuador, it has been translated as buen vivir or "good living", although native speakers of Quechua when are asked to translate the neologism in another language say that a more precise translation would be "the plentiful life".[1][2][3][4] In Bolivia, the original neologism in Aimaran is suma qamaña which has been also translated as vivir bien or living well.[5][6]
In the original Quechua phrase, sumak refers to the ideal and beautiful fulfillment of the planet, and kawsay means "life," a life with dignity, plenitude, balance, and harmony. Similar ideas exist in other indigenous communities, such as the Mapuche (Chile), the Guaraní (Bolivia and Paraguay),[7] the Achuar (Ecuadorian Amazon), the Guna (Panamá), etc.
Mayan Tsotsil and Tseltal peoples pursue Lekil Kuxlejal (a fair-dignified life), which is considered equivalent to Buen Vivir and has influenced the development Neozapatismo.[8]
Since the 1990s, sumak kawsay has been involved into a big political project that imagine collective wellbeing, social responsibility in how people should relate to nature, and a halt to endless capital accumulation. This final aspect makes the project an alternative to desindustrialization and traditional development.[9] Buen vivir imagine the collective realization of a harmonious and balanced life based on ethical values, in place of a development model that views human beings as an economic resource.[5] [[Indigenous organizations officially registered countries of Latin America, specially in Ecuador and Bolivia, along with intellectuals, initially used the concept to build an alternative paradigm to capitalist development with cosmological, holistic, and political dimensions. The 2008 Constitution of Ecuador incorporated the concept of the rights of nature, as did the 2009 Constitution of Bolivia. Diverse theorists, such as economists Alberto Acosta and Magdalena León, say that sumak kawsay is not about a finished and completely structured theory, but rather an unfinished social proposal that can be improved.[citation needed]
- ^ Macas, Luis. "El Sumak Kawsay" (PDF). Decrecimiento y Buen Vivir. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- ^ Gudynas, Eduardo (2011). "Buen Vivir: Today's tomorrow". Development. 54 (4): 441–447. doi:10.1057/dev.2011.86. ISSN 1011-6370. S2CID 59059108.
- ^ Lang, Miriam (2022). "Buen vivir was formulated academically as a territorial practice in order to try to imagine a sustainable life through the execution of interculturality". Sustainability Science. 17 (4): 1287–1299. doi:10.1007/s11625-022-01130-1.
- ^ Calisto Friant, Martin; Langmore, John (2015). "The Buen Vivir: A Policy to Survive the Anthropocene?". Global Policy. 6 (1): 64–71. doi:10.1111/1758-5899.12187.
- ^ a b Telégrafo, El (2013-04-07). "¿Qué es el Sumak Kawsay?". El Telégrafo (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-05-15.
- ^ ""Vivir Bien" - propuesta de modelo de gobierno en Bolivia". economiasolidaria.org (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-05-15.
- ^ Melià, Bartomeu (December 2015). "El buen vivir se aprende". Sinéctica (in Spanish) (45): 1–12. ISSN 1665-109X.
- ^ University of Auckland; Albarran Gonzalez, Diana (2021-07-22). "Sjalel Lekil Kuxlejal: Mayan Weaving and Zapatismo in Design Research". Pluriversal Design Special Interest Group. Design Research Society. doi:10.21606/pluriversal.2021.0047. ISBN 978-1-912294-43-5.
- ^ Rivadeneira Nuñez, Guadalupe (November 2016). "Sumak Kawsay - Esplendida Existencia - Buen Vivir" (PDF). Wayback Machine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved May 15, 2021.