Heritagization of nature and its influence on local ecological knowledge in Uruguay

In this paper, I analyze the conflicts on the heritagization processes of Butiá palm forests in Uruguay. Some problems regarding the reproduction of this ecosystem have triggered the creation of conservation proposals and the modernization of handmade food production derived from these palms. The main heritagization processes highlights the palm as a plant through arguments that emphasize the utility, beauty and specificity of palm forests. The modernization of Butiá food by-products has influenced the lives of family producers that make such products. These people, who have built their lives around Butiá palms, feel as if their local ecological knowledge has been frozen, homogenized and displaced, which has led to a series of local conflicts. These process, which is based on the fixation of that knowledge through recipes, has come along together with more general conflicts with reference to the marginalization of these individuals regarding the authorized heritage discourse.