Brainstorm Week 8 - Angie Lai

The "Ecuador Constitution Grants Rights to Nature" article names a very specific form of resilience, a constitution for the earth, residing in la pachamama. The constitution states that "nature 'has the right to exist, persist, maintain, and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution". Convivencia is somewhat inherent in supporting this constitution because to enforce it, people must work together in harmony. Chicanxfuturism is also present in this constitution because this is an innovative and unprecedented concept. This pushes the boundaries for what we believe is possible and it strives for a better future. The "Afro And Indigenous Life-Visions In/And Politics. (De)Colonial Perspectives In Bolivia And Ecuador" article describes the movement of reviving "life-visions" rooted in Afro and Indigenous thought to reverse coloniality and Western logic in modern politics. In relation to resilience practices in la pachamama, Walsh states that in "cosmovision, Mother Earth is central" and that "there is no division between humans and nature; the equilibrium, development, and survival of society rests in this harmonic relation of integration"  (56). This "survival of society" that rests in "harmonic relation" demonstrates resilience. In terms of convivencia, the four principles of "living well", which are relationality, correspondence, complementarity, and reciprocity are emblematic of convivenica (56). These principles are core concepts in convivencia. In terms of chicanxfuturism, Walsh points out the inconsistencies and hypocrisy of governments adopting "buen vivir" as development in a new coloniality framework. She refers to Ecuador's conflicting constitution for nature and the new exploitative mining laws, claiming that "the making of a new society, able and willing to confront colonial legacies and patterns of power", which underpins chicanxfuturism, "are not in governments or politically elected officials… but instead in the communities, movements, and peoples" (66).