E-Book Overview
This book provides a socio-historical analysis of the 2002 massacre at Bellavista-Bojayá-Chocó, Colombia. The author examines how the concepts of forced displacement and migration could be formulas for historical erasure. These concepts are used to name populations, such as the survivors of this massacre, and are limited in their ability to contribute to the demands for reparation of the affected populations. Instead, based on an ethnographic study of the pain and suffering generated in the survivors, the book proposes the concept of deracination as a tool to study land dispossession. It captures both the complex local specificities, the global linkages of this phenomenon and the strategies of resistance used by the people of this community to channel what seems as an impossible mourning.
E-Book Content
AFRODESCENDANT RESISTANCE TO DERACINATION IN COLOMBIA Massacre at Bellavista-Bojayá-Chocó Aurora Vergara-Figueroa
Afrodescendant Resistance to Deracination in Colombia
Aurora Vergara-Figueroa
Afrodescendant Resistance to Deracination in Colombia Massacre at Bellavista-Bojayá-Chocó
Aurora Vergara-Figueroa Department of Social Sciences Universidad Icesi Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
ISBN 978-3-319-59760-7 ISBN 978-3-319-59761-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59761-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017950686 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Melisa Hasan Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To my loving mother Maria Teresa Figueroa Rojas To the Women of Bellavista Afro-Colombian Women Warriors For their strength, courage, love and wisdom
Preface
This is the hardest story I ever told. I have been doing research at Bellavista for over a decade. I feel that this story needs to be told by those who suffered in this awful event, but because of barriers, that is not possible. I write this book with the utmost respect for the lives, stories and memories of those who allowed me to compose this account of the massacre of Bellavista-Bojayá. On May 2, 2017, fifteen years after this heinous crime, the Bellavista community held a commemoration. Hence, this book pays tribute to those who lost their lives on the morning of May 2, of 2002 and honors the journey of the survivors. My writing carries out the wishes of the communities’ victims of deracination. My reflections would have not