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Ecoteca is Ruge el Bosque’s podcast. Recorded within a context of irreversible environmental degradation, this acoustic forest seeks to preserve a distinct moment within the existing linguistic, climatic, and political ecosystems of Abiayala/Afro/Latino/America by attending to their sonic reverberations. Each episode traces the repercussions of a specific environmental problem drawn from the poetic biomes and soundscapes of Ruge el Bosque, inviting us to listen closely for possible futures.

Episode 1: WETLANDS ROAR





Wetlands are ecosystems flooded or covered by water, and their existence is key for the continuity of life on Earth. Nevertheless, their protection has not been prioritized by Latin American nations: 59% of the region’s wetlands are currently receding. In this episode, Natalia Garay, Mario Castells y Valeria Mussio, three poets from Ruge el Bosque, allow the wetlands of the Southern Cone to saturate their voices. Musician Federico Durand listens to the pulse of water to create an interspecies wetlands soundscape.

Voice: Valeria Meiller | Script: Javiera Pérez Salerno | Original Music: Federico Durand | Research: Valeria Meiller, Whitney DeVos, and Javiera Pérez Salerno | Research Assistant: Stefanie Naoun | Sound Production: Celeste Prezioso | Production: Ruge el bosque




Episode 2: SACRIFICE ZONES ROAR





Sacrifice zones are regions where the daily operations of extractive industries cause permanent, corrosive impacts on the landscape. One of the largest is in the Chilean port of Quintero and its adjacent Puchuncaví, where several thermoelectric plants put the entire ecosystem at risk. In this episode, Carlos Soto Román, Victoria Cóccaro and Ana Gayoso, three poets from Ruge el bosque, find poetic openings into these spaces in conflict. A soundscape by percussionist and bell ringer Federico Orio accompanies them.

Voice: Valeria Meiller | Original Music: Federico Durand | Research and Script: Javiera Pérez Salerno, Valeria Meiller, and Whitney DeVos | Research Assistant: Stefanie Naoun | Sound Production: Celeste Prezioso | Production: Ruge el bosque




Episode 3: CONTAMINATED WATERS ROAR





Heavy metals, factory and sewage waste, pesticides, plastics, and radioactive substances are some of the most common substances that contaminate waterways in the Southern Cone. For centuries, riverbeds have absorbed waste and things people have sought to hide. Today, the situation of extreme contamination demands our attention–and that of governments. In this episode, Begoña Ugalde, Valentina Unda and Natalia Sosa Molina, three poets from Ruge el bosque, take their words to inquire into murky waters. The Chilean composer and bass player Amanda Irarrázabal places her instrument like a canoe on the river in order to circulate their message.

Voice: Valeria Meiller | Original Music: Federico Durand | Research and Script: Javiera Pérez Salerno, Valeria Meiller, and Whitney DeVos | Research Assistant: Stefanie Naoun | Sound Production: Celeste Prezioso | Production: Ruge el bosque



Episode 4: LANGUAGES ROAR





Ecosystems sustain the languages that develop within them. In many regions, it is through Indigenous languages that the knowledge of local peoples is transmitted. Specific territories are also directly related to the creation of new languages, as is the case in borderlands regions. Space and language are closely linked. When one is at risk, the other is also affected. Whenever a language goes extinct, a unique system of thought disappears. In this episode, we explore linguistic diversity in the Southern Cone through the songs of Qom poet Ema Cuañeri and the voices of three poets from Ruge el bosque: Gregorio Gómez Centurión, Alberto Sepúlveda Burgos, and Fabián Severo.

Voice: Valeria Meiller | Original Music: Federico Durand | Research and Script: Javiera Pérez Salerno, Valeria Meiller, and Whitney DeVos | Research Assistant: Stefanie Naoun | Sound Production: Celeste Prezioso | Production: Ruge el bosque



Episode 5: ENDANGERED SPECIES ROAR 





Evolution and extinction are part of life on Earth. However, human-induced climate change has become the main cause of an ongoing planetary transformation that has precipitated the extinction of countless endemic species. Some of the most common causes of habitat destruction, which pushes thousands of plant and animal species ever closer to disappearance, include: industrial agriculture, nuclear energy, oil production and transportation, the introduction of non-endemic species, devastating pollution, and mining exploitation that are carried out as part of the extractivist policies of states and their corporations. In this episode, we reflect on endangered species of the Southern Cone, illuminating the importance of respecting and preserving the region’s many lifeforms. Two poets from Ruge el bosque, Cecilia Eraso and Paloma Sánchez, roar on behalf of extinct and endangered species. The Paraguayan musician Eneveku proposes sound as one path for recovering the delicate balance of Southern Cone ecosystems.

Voice: Valeria Meiller | Original Music: Federico Durand | Research and Script: Javiera Pérez Salerno, Valeria Meiller, and Whitney DeVos | Research Assistant: Stefanie Naoun | Sound Production: Celeste Prezioso | Production general: Ruge el bosque




Episode 6: WOODLANDS ROAR 





The wealth of woodlands in the Southern Cone is vast. In Chile and Argentina, there are temperate forests; in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina, great stretches of natural pasture land. The Gran American Chaco is the second-most extensive biome on the continent, after the Amazon. But agribusiness, the ongoing expansion of land for livestock, monocultural soybean production, and real estate speculation all encroach upon native forests. Despite regulations and fines, indiscriminate destruction of the woodlands continues to escalate. In this episode, we seek to reforest thought related to woodlands in the Southern Cone. Three poets from Ruge el bosque, Victoria Ramírez Mansilla, Silvia Guerra and Christian Aedo, use their verses to enter into poetry’s forested areas. The music of Montarosa, a young Argentine composer, provides the score for this sonic journey.

Voice: Valeria Meiller | Original Music: Federico Durand | Research and Script: Javiera Pérez Salerno, Valeria Meiller, and Whitney DeVos | Research Assistant: Stefanie Naoun | Sound Production: Celeste Prezioso | Production general: Ruge el bosque




Episode 7: THE GRASSLANDS ROAR 





The rural grassland plains are a space where social and political tensions in the Southern Cone converge. Now the site of wide-scaleagricultural production, this ecosystem is inseparable from colonial violence, the genocide of Indigenous peoples, and the illegitimate seizure of their territories. Today, the challenges surrounding rural areas are directly linked to extractivist economic models that deplete arable lands, exploit animal species, and perpetuate various forms of racialized and class-based violence. But the grasslands of the Southern Cone also provide traction for the political imaginations of our time, taking aesthetic form in genres ranging from documentary representations of working-class and environmental struggles to the apocalyptic futures imagined in science fiction. In this episode, Ruge el bosque poets Claudia Magliano, Valentín Etchegaray, and Carolina Rack sow a poetics of alarm. The music of Intro/Extro, an electronic-experimental duo from Buenos Aires, puts forth a path of sounds for defying rural violence. This episode also includes the voices of communal farmer Florencia Polimeni and writer Michel Nieva.

Voice: Valeria Meiller | Original Music: Federico Durand | Research and Script: Javiera Pérez Salerno, Valeria Meiller, and Whitney DeVos | Research Assistant: Stefanie Naoun | Sound Production: Celeste Prezioso | Production general: Ruge el bosque




Episode 8: THE CITIES ROAR 





The Southern Cone’s metropolises are spaces profoundly affected by social and ecological problems such as pollution, gentrification, and unemployment. However, these densely-populated areas also produce the conditions of possibility for ecologically attuned forms of engagement with the environment. In the wake of the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, many political and social groups in the cities of the Southern Cone have been militant in their demands for urban ecologies that instate more environmentally-friendly relations at the local level. This episode of Ecoteca traces ecological attunements within metropolitan spaces. Three poets from Ruge el bosque, Antolín Olgiatti, Pilar Otero and Tuti Curani, put forward poetic visions of different cities in the Southern Cone. They are accompanied by a sound intervention from DJ and mashup artist Villa Diamante. Also featured are the Chilean project Cuidadores de destinos, the environmental journalist Paula Alvarado, and Soldán, a hacktivist part of the Cybercirujas collective.

Voice: Valeria Meiller | Original Music: Federico Durand | Research and Script: Javiera Pérez Salerno, Valeria Meiller, and Whitney DeVos | Research Assistant: Stefanie Naoun | Sound Production: Celeste Prezioso | Production general: Ruge el bosque