Reflections on the transformation of two Colombian river basins: navigating between river memories and an eco-ontological approach

Reflections on the transformation of two Colombian river basins: navigating between river memories and an eco-ontological approach

In this webinar session, Laura Giraldo-Martínez will discuss the case study of the Bogotá River, in Colombia, showing how different socio-ecological memories and their spatialisation or materialisation in river infrastructures have historically shaped and continue to influence the river’s meaning and significance. This memory-infrastructure nexus can inform current and future efforts to de-technify and re-humanise or re-ecologicalise relationships with the river, and to foster more diverse and plural cultures of governance. In advocating for actions to restore, repair, enliven, de-pollute and re-make the Bogotá River, Laura will encourage reflection on key questions: What is our point of reference for change? Is it rooted in the past, in a vision of the future, or in embodied and present experiences? How can multiple temporalities and memories coexist and inform each other to foster transformations?

Building on Laura’s insights, Arturo Escobar will present a collective approach developed with Afro-descendant communities in the Upper Cauca River Valley (UCRV). This project aims to promote pluriversal territorial peace by supporting transformative alternatives along three axes: : 1) economic and productive transformations aimed at promoting food sovereignty and life-centred economies; 2) eco-ontological restoration aimed at creating a bioregional identity as a pluriversal water territory; and 3) historical reparations leading to territorial peace with racial, social, spatial, environmental and epistemic justice. Key in this project is the notion of bioregion, here conceptualised as a pluriversal agropolitan, aquapolitan and multipolitan territory, that includes an ontological dimension to intersectionality.

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Speakers

Laura Giraldo-Martínez is a Philosopher, Master in Geography and PhD researcher in the River Commons Project at WUR in the Bogotá River basin (Colombia). Her research interests articulate the fields of political ecology of water, cultural geography, and memory studies. She is part of the entre-ríos collective in the “Bogotá River” project which weaves networks with grassroots initiatives active in the river care, restoration and conservation.

Arturo Escobar, Activist-researcherUniversidad del Valle, Cali

Arturo Escobar is an activist-researcher from Cali, Colombia. He was professor of anthropology at UNC, Chapel Hill, until 2018, and is affiliated with the PhD Program in Environmental Sciences, Universidad del Valle, Cali. His most recent book is Relationality: An Emergent Politics of Life Beyond the Human (2024, with Michal Osterweil and Kriti Sharma).