Environmental history and the political ecology of extractivism in La Guajira, Colombia

This research explores the socioecological conflict in La Guajira, a province in the north of Colombia, arising from an opencast
coalmine installed in the 1970s. This area, including part of Venezuela, has been the historical land of the Wayuu people,
an indigenous group with the highest population in Colombia. Afro-descendants established there after they run away from
slavery and organised settlements. Before the mine, these rural communities have established strong links in trading, and the
access to services such as water; they used to have a survival economy (Chomsky, 2016). The natural environment in La
Guajira is a range of ecosystems from desert to dry tropical forest and 'constitutes an important area for endemism' (UlloaDelgado,
2016. P. 10). This region has also lacked government attention historically and is one of the poorest in Colombia
with a high infant mortality. 44.9% of the population there are Indigenous and 14% Afro-descendants facing pollution, water
scarcity, and the loss of livelihoods due to their displacement and/or relocation to urban settlements (Munera Montes, et al,
2014).
In this context, by exploring the 'environmental history' (Armiero and Sedrez, 2014) of La Guajira, I will analyse changing
socioecological relations before and after the establishment of the mine, and how the concept of 'planetary urbanisation'
(Brenner and Schmid, 2012) allows us to make connections so that relations from such remote areas become understood and
analysed as an integral part of the worldwide urban fabric.
Aims:
(i) Re/construct an environmental history of the socioecological relations in La Guajira in order to build a narrative of
environmental change and provide evidence of the impact of mining on both people and the ecosystem in the region.
(ii) Use 'political ecology' as a critical lens to analyse the socioecological relations and chart transformations produced by
extractive industries in the context of planetary urbanisation.
(iii) Develop a transdisciplinary methodology that enacts a narrative environmental history of connections and relations.
Use participatory action research to co-produce community mapping, oral history, and an archive of objects and practices
recording and representing socioecological transformations to facilitate the production of material for popular education.
The research can potentially make a significant contribution to knowledge around the socioecological impacts of mining by
developing an interdisciplinary methodology which focuses on the experiences and 'situated knowledge' (Haraway, 1998) of
the people living in areas with active mines