El laberinto de los discursos del Buen vivir: entre Sumak Kawsay y Socialismo del siglo XXI

Abstract

This paper proposes an in-depth analysis of the discourses of the Buen vivir. We underline the contemporary interest for this new proposal in the discursive field of sustainable development. We identify the actors that support this proposal and review its historical construction, derived from the combination of cosmological principles of indigenous people of Latin America, contemporary contributions of some critical intellectuals (Latin American and international) and its inclusion in the political sphere and partial institutionalization (mainly in Ecuador and Bolivia). We also consider the way they conceive modernity and the fundamental question of socio-environmental sustainability; as well as the tensions between normative discourses and neo-extractive practices in Latin America. Finally, this analysis suggests a distinction between three main currents of the Buenvivir: the "Indigenist", "Socialist" and "Post-structuralist" currents according to their modes of problematizing modernity and sustainability.