Body territory, burial of placentas and founding rites

Abstract

This paper addresses the relationship between bodies, territories, practices related to birth and the bonds that are generated or broken as a result of them, since the arrival of new beings will mark the way in which the relationships between them and the world will develop. The testimonies that are contained in this text were provided by inhabitants of the Sierra de Ancasti (province of Catamarca, Argentina). The experiences that are told, the home births and their relationship with the foundational rituals denote another way of feeling and thinking, a desire to find a reciprocal way of coexistence between the planet and human beings, a thought thoroughly woven with sentiment in regards to the soil from a deep relatedness standpoint. The stories that speak of other possible ways of living and giving birth can help us understand that there are multiple ways of living on and with the earth. Therefore, we will try to walk the path from our house to the institution and from the institution to our house, to understand the twists and turns, the changes and the permanences, as an attempt to remember the rituals, recover the memory and the forgotten senses.