Abstract

VELASCO PEGUEROS, B. Alejandra. Other Forms of Territorial Defense: Cultural and Identity Revitalization of the Cochimí from the Baja California Peninsula. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2020, vol.15, e443.  Epub Mar 05, 2021. ISSN 1870-4115.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2020.v15.443.

This paper addresses territorial issues faced by the native peoples of Baja California, specifically the descendants of the Cochimí people from the peninsula’s central desert. Having lost their agrarian rights and despite having for a long time been considered extinct, the Cochimí organized a process of cultural and identity revitalization in order to fight for their territory. This paper demonstrates how in spite of cultural changes and deterritorialization, territorial belonging can become a solid symbol to reconfigure ethnic identity and become an important element in the creation of new forms of resistance in moments of territorial confrontation or dispute.

Keywords : cultural resistance; Aridoamerica; Yumano-Cochimí; territorial belonging; ethnic assertion.