A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

“state of things” or a “political project” seeking the attainment of a full
life (a harmonic and balanced state of things), it is logical to wonder
about the principles and forms of social coexistence that make such a
state of affairs possible. Do those elements exist within the Andean linguistic-conceptual
corpus and in its social praxis? I would like to answer
affirmatively and consider how, for example, notions of solidarity, of social
transformation, of reciprocity, of poverty and wealth, of relating to
the environment, of relating to experience and time, of the person and
of the collective are codified in the Quechua/Kichwa language. In this
perspective, I would like to put forward at least a schematic approximation
of the widespread praxis of the minga in different Andean scenarios,
both urban and rural, and show how this practice articulates a different
social outlook that suggests a complementary conception of the individual
and the collective, and leaves visible the constituent elements that
sustain the networks of solidarity and the formation of the collective.
First off, it is necessary to point out that no Quechua/Kichwa dictionary,
past or present, contains an entry assigning meaning to the compound
phrase sumak kawsay. Each of the words appears and is defined separately.
Sumak means «pretty, beautiful, lovely, nice», while kawsay
means «life, to live». The combination of the two concepts, possible in
daily communication, does not denote an extraordinary epistemological
status in the way that other concepts such as pacha (space-time),
pachakutik (profound transformation in the order of things) etc. do. It is
not an ancestral category but an epistemological invention sustained by
the ecological struggles occupying a world in crisis and refers to a whole
set of practices that make up the Andean way of life. It is an interstitial
concept, the power and legitimacy of which lie, however, in its capacity
to become a life option through its rootedness in the practices which
define the Andean way of life, such as the minga and the practical and
conceptual field associated with it.
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