Saberes y costumbres ancestrales como expresión territorial para planificación intercultural en el pueblo Saraguro, Loja

Abstract

Abstract: This degree project examines territorial planning from an intercultural approach, integrating the ancestral knowledge and customs of Indigenous peoples as fundamental elements of living territoriality. The main objective is to identify the ancestral knowledge and customs of the Saraguro people that shape a distinctive territoriality, to provide inputs for their incorporation into intercultural territorial planning processes. The study takes the Quisquinchir community, located in Saraguro canton, Loja Province, Ecuador, as a case study. Mixed-methods research is used; these combine theoretical and empirical approaches. Techniques adopted are documentary review, semi-structured interviews, participant observation and social cartography workshops as well as research resources like interview guides, base maps for collective territorial construction, and observation records. The results demonstrate the territorial, cultural, organizational, and productive significance of the ancestral knowledge of the Saraguro people and highlight the existence of practices and expressions that configure a living territoriality not reflected in institutional cartography, thereby fulfilling the stated objectives. To conclude that social cartography is a key tool for integrating ancestral knowledge into intercultural territorial planning and for strengthening decision-making processes in Indigenous territories.