Abstract
This chapter focuses on the interconnections between rituals, indigenous communities’ sociopolitical dynamics, a potential ecological crisis, and tourism development in Laguna Blanca – a highland village in the Province of Catamarca, Northwestern Andean Argentina. We present an ethnographic description of a ritual offering called corpachada, which is made by the villagers to Pachamama (Mother Earth) on 1st August every year, both in private family and public ceremonies. We are interested in tracing and building connections between the corpachada ritual and the current political, social and ecological transformation of the area; especially as regards new mining projects which have stirred conflicts within the local communities and families. Drawing on the methodologies of sociocultural anthropology and geography, we propose mapping the spatial and temporal dynamics of the different ritual offerings to understand how sociocultural change in the communities of the Biosphere Reserve Laguna Blanca is interconnected with the processes of politicisation, festivalisation, and touristification of the mentioned corpachada ritual. In addition, we argue that the ritual can be seen as an open cosmopolitical arena in which new possible strategies of alliance among indigenous communities, researchers, and even tourists, can be experimented with.