Rethinking the margin as a life-affirming place

What role do margins play in terms of questioning and challenging the violent relational logic that (re)produces marginalised subjectivities?
Starting from my experience with the Mapuche community located in San Martin de los Andes in Patagonia’s region, this chapter looks at the violent relational logic that (re)produced marginalised subjectivities in the Andes from a decolonial perspective. It provides conceptual reflections on the margins, by shifting the idea of margins to crossroads where displaced subjectivities come together and cultivate life-affirming processes.
These trends are explored in a highly conflictive socio-historical context that includes: the subjugation and dispossession of the indigenous communities; the creation of national parks on seized territories to control nature; the establishment of white settler villages; and the relocation of surviving indigenous communities in the urban margins living in extremely precarious conditions.