teko’a, the Guarani concept of territory/village
Bettina Escauriza
Slought, University of Pennsylvania
Abstract
For the Guarani words existed before people existed. Ñamandú, the First One, made the words in the
darkness before the Earth: ava ñe’ẽ, the language of the people. Words are so central to Guaraní
philosophy that the word for “word” and “soul” are the same: ñe’ẽ. Speech for the Guaraní is a sacred
action.
In this presentation I explore “Teko’a” the Guaraní concept of territory/village. Simply stated, teko’a
means a Guaraní village or settlement, but held within the concept of teko'a is the idea that for a person
to be able to practice their ways of being they must be in community with others and that the practice
of one's culture happens in relationship to the land. Without people and land there is no teko – there is
no way of being Guaraní. My presentation is both a philosophical inquiry that aims to challenge the
academy and western ways of thinking along with being a practice of speculative geographies that seeks
to imagine possible futures inspired by the Indigenous epistemologies of my ancestors.
framework.
Biography
Born in Asuncion, Paraguay, Bettina Escauriza is an anarchist artist
and writer of Guaraní descent based in Philadelphia. Her work
deals with Indigenous knowledge, urbanism, and forced migration.
She is currently working on a film about the practice of Pohã Ñana,
Guaraní plant medicine, as a form of resistance to colonization
while exploring the viability of far-reaching, autonomous,
Indigenous health practices.