"To be <i>aireado</i>". Air flows, bodies and surprising turns in Los Castillos, Catamarca (Argentina)

Abstract

This article is based on ethnographic research conducted in the rural town of Los Castillos located in the eastern valleys of Catamarca, Argentina. The research that frames this article aims to comprehend certain dimensions of castillisto understandings of their relationship with meteorological phenomena. Linking castillisto experiences to the folkloric and ethnographic registers of Catamarca and the Argentine Northwest, I aim to express certain basic characteristics that define the relationship between two air flows, the aire and the Zonda, and local bodies. I focus on them in order to explore the concept of “kuty” or “turn” as systematized by the Argentine philosopher Rodolfo Kusch in 1970, I highlight the harmful nature of these as they introduce an unfortunate and abrupt change in circumstance. Moreover, this text aims to contribute to the discussion on the uses of the concept of “Nature” in rural and indigenous ethnographic contexts of Argentine Northwest and the southern Andes.