Description
This paper addresses the politics of territoriality of black communities in the Cauca region in Colombia. Since the 18th century, enslaved communities accompanied the process of liberation with proposals of ‘being with territory’. Although suffering modifications, practices of being with territory continued until the 21st century when black and indigenous communities signed the Ethnic Chapter of the Peace Agreement (2016) between the government and the FARC guerrilla. Different narratives of progress created openings and closures that allowed some forms of territoriality to flourish, while others were suppressed with violence. My analysis highlights the relationship between what narratives of progress make possible or visible, and how projects of territoriality interrupt these narratives by causing public disagreements. On this occasion, war was waged against their communities (de la Cadena). The paper sheds light on how in Colombia narratives of progress, supported by war machines provoked the displacement of seven million inhabitants, “de-territorializing people and establishing territories without people” (Almario).
