THE MULTI-SPECIES TURN: GEOHISTORIC REPRESENTATION OF THE PUMA FROM AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE (16TH-21TH CENTURIES)

In this article, the ‘puma’ (Puma concolor) is studied to understand the representations of nature in Chilean society, from a geohistorical perspective and the current discussion of the “multispecies turn” in the humanities and social sciences. For the study of the representation of the puma in the Chilean society, we resorted to historical sources, and oral history, performing at the same time a critical hermeneutical and relational analysis of these sources. Interviews were also used that allowed the analysis to be focused and exemplified, as well as a brief review of the legal aspects in the conservation of the puma. The results suggest that, despite legal attempts to protect the species, and contrary to empirical evidence, the idea of a dangerous animal remains in the collective imagination, which in rural areas is still persecuted and hunted. This poses the challenge of resorting to the entire cultural baggage of the multispecies turn to advance together with the more traditional view of a need to preserve the species, towards a deeper understanding of the animal being, of animality in the human, and of the puma as a receiver and transcriber of fears and uncertainties rooted in the Chilean collective unconscious.