Resumo

MACLEOD, Morna. Buen vivir, development and neoliberal pillage in the twenty-first century. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2015, vol.10, n.19, pp.80-108. ISSN 1870-4115.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2015.19.46.

The notions of sumak kawsay and suma qamaña (living well/‘buen vivir’) have flourished in the last decade in Ecuador and Bolivia, respectively, in the heat of the participatory and innovative processes brought about by the new political constitutions. These notions have joined processes of theorizing from other Latin America regions, like lekil kuxlejal in Chiapas, and incipient tb’anil qanq’ib’il among the Maya-Mam people from Guatemala. Simultaneously alarming levels of pillage have accompanied the boom of the extraction industry. This article identifies some critiques of Western development and explores different notions of living well/buen vivir to then highlight how open pit mining for gold in Guatemala is destroying the environment, the social fabric, families and communities, as well as many local elements regarding buen vivir in San Miguel Ixtahuacan. It collects perceptions from Maya-Mam women who are resisting the mine.

Palavras-chave : living well/buen vivir; mining; indigenous peoples; Mayan women.