Non-binary territories: towards a dissident spatiality from the Global South

Abstract

In a scenario of eco-social collapse, this article proposes non-binary territory as a critical tool for rethinking and transforming our spaces. Integrating queer theory, territorial feminisms, and epistemologies of the South, it questions the binary structures that have historically organized territory (public/private, city/nature, masculine/feminine). These divisions have systematically excluded non-normative bodies, knowledge, and ways of life. Non-binary territory is not an undefined space, but a living, relational, and dynamic practice that embraces the hybrid, the interstitial, and the unresolved as legitimate forms of spatial existence. Inspired by the ethics of care and non-Western worldviews, this approach understands territory as a living entity, founded on interdependence, affection, and collective responsibility. Using a qualitative methodology, two cases are explored: Valparaíso, Chile, and the Mapuche Wallmapu. These experiences exemplify dissident territorial expressions that resist logics of control and homogenization. The article demonstrates that non-binary territory is a performative practice that reconfigures the relationships between body, space, and power. This proposal does not seek new classifications, but rather to dismantle frameworks of exclusion in order to imagine more just, inclusive, and livable urban and territorial futures. Thus, non-binary territory emerges as a path for uncertain times, an invitation to transform our urban practices from a perspective of difference, care, and communal living.