Black Women’s Struggles against Extractivism, Land Dispossession, and Marginalization in Colombia

Citation:

Hernández Reyes, Castriela Esther. 2019. "Black Women’s Struggles against Extractivism, Land Dispossession, and Marginalization in Colombia." Latin American Perspectives 46 (2): 217-34.

Author: Castriela Esther Hernández Reyes

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
The neocolonial turn toward extractivism intensifies the use of violence while fostering land dispossession, racism, and militarization of social life. Afro-Colombian women resist this process by using their subjectivities politically, strategically, discursively, and textually. An examination through the lens of black/decolonial feminism of the first national Mobilization for the Care of Life and Ancestral Territories, led by 40 black women from the Department of Cauca in 2014, shows that black women’s emotions and collective affections were driving forces that exhibited both their exclusions and their resistance. These feelings may be seen as catalysts through which their lived experiences are expressed and performed in the material world. Examination of this event suggests that a more radical analysis of black women’s historicity, subjectivities, and struggles is needed to better capture and understand experience-based epistemologies that challenge hegemonic forms of knowledge production.
SPANISH ABSTRACT:
El giro neocolonial hacia el extractivismo intensifica el uso de la violencia al tiempo que fomenta el despojo de tierras, el racismo y la militarización de la vida social. Las mujeres afrocolombianas se resisten a este proceso utilizando sus subjetividades políticas, estratégica, discursiva y textualmente. Un examen a través del feminismo negro/decolonial de la primera movilización nacional por el Cuidado de la Vida y los Territorios Ancestrales, liderada por 40 mujeres negras del Departamento del Cauca en 2014, revele que las emociones y los afectos colectivos de las mujeres negras fueron fuerzas impulsoras que exibian tanto sus exclusiones como sus formas de resistencia. Estos sentimientos pueden verse como catalizadores a través de los cuales sus experiencias vividas se expresan y realizan en el mundo material. El examen de este evento sugiere que se necesita un análisis más radical de la historicidad, las subjetividades y las luchas de las mujeres afrodescendientes para captar y comprender mejor las epistemologías basadas en la experiencia que desafían las formas hegemónicas de producción de conocimiento.

Keywords: Afro-Colombian women, neocolonial extractivism, racialized capitalism, Afro-aesthetic and emotion politics, political subjectivities, black/decolonial feminism

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Ethnicity, Feminisms, Extractive Industries, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Political Participation, Race, Rights, Land Rights, Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2019

© 2023 CONSORTIUM ON GENDER, SECURITY & HUMAN RIGHTSLEGAL STATEMENT All photographs used on this site, and any materials posted on it, are the property of their respective owners, and are used by permission. Photographs: The images used on the site may not be downloaded, used, or reproduced in any way without the permission of the owner of the image. Materials: Visitors to the site are welcome to peruse the materials posted for their own research or for educational purposes. These materials, whether the property of the Consortium or of another, may only be reproduced with the permission of the owner of the material. This website contains copyrighted materials. The Consortium believes that any use of copyrighted material on this site is both permissive and in accordance with the Fair Use doctrine of 17 U.S.C. § 107. If, however, you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated, please contact the Consortium at info@genderandsecurity.org.