A propósito del fuego: diálogo de saberes y justicia cognitiva en territorios indígenas culturalmente frágiles

This article examines the central role that cultural revitalization plays laying the foundations for a symmetrical dialogue of knowledge regarding contentious environmental issues. For this purpose we examine several participatory research experiences carried out in Canaima National Park, Venezuela, between 1999 and the present, to facilitate dialogue on the use of fire within the Pemón indigenous people, with a view to strengthening their capacity for dialogue and negotiation with other actors on the management sustainable of their territories; this included discussions on processes of cultural change and the formation of identity. These experiences have shown that once indigenous knowledge which has been historically excluded is given public recognition, as part of their own agendas political and cultural reaffirmation, indigenous peoples feel more confident to engage in dialogues with other actors about complex and multifactorial issues, like the use of fire. These community wide reflection processes pave the way to a situation of greater cognitive justice in environmental management and territorial that is part of a broader process of construction of interculturality. The right of indigenous peoples to self-reflection, to think differently and to the free expression of their knowledge is essential so that dialogue between knowledge systems and interculturality can take place in conditions of equity.