On December 4, 5, and 6, 2024, PhD researchers Catalina Rey-Hernández, Laura Giraldo Martínez, Ana María Arbeláez Trujillo, and Carolina Cuevas Parra participated in the held in Mexico City.
During the three-hour workshop titled “Partitura Colectiva: Composición de paisajes sonoros ribereños” (Collective Score: Composition of Riverside Soundscapes), Catalina, Laura, and Carolina introduced a methodology designed to attune participants to the sonic dimensions of rivers. Together with the participants, they co-created an embodied and affective approach to traveling through, investigating, and inhabiting riverine bodies of water. The collaborative creation of a collective score provided an opportunity for participants from Colombia, Mexico, and Spain to engage in dialogue and share experiences of everyday life, resistance, struggle, and care for their rivers.
In addition to the workshop, PhD researcher Laura Giraldo Martínez presented insights from her research in a presentation titled “Mapear el nacimiento de un río: moldeando la cuenca alta del río Bogotá” (Mapping the Source of a River: Shaping the Upper Bogotá River Basin) as part of the panel “Justicia Hídrica: conflictos socioambientales y movimientos en defensa del agua” (Water Justice: Socio-Environmental Conflicts and Movements in Defense of Water). Meanwhile, Ana María Arbeláez Trujillo contributed to the panel “Experiencias de la lucha por el agua y la naturaleza” (Experiences of the Struggle for Water and Nature) with her presentation “Movilización pluri-legal campesina por la defensa del río La Miel, Colombia” (Pluri-Legal Peasant Mobilization for the Defense of the La Miel River, Colombia). Furthermore, Ana María and Carolina collaborated with Puerto Rican activist researchers Larissa González and Katherine Martínez to organize the panel “Tejiendo entre sures: conversación entre investigaciones activistas y feministas” (Weaving Between Souths: Conversations Between Activist and Feminist Research). In this session, they fostered a circular space for reflection on the concept of “weaving” across multiple disciplines, geographies, scales, and power relations, and reflected on the challenges of bridging academia and activism.
The participation of Riverhood and River Commons PhD researchers in this event contributes to strengthening the interconnected river network in Latin America, fostering conceptual and methodological exchanges with activists, social leaders, river defenders, and political ecology researchers. The discussions and methodologies shared in this space also
contribute to deepening and amplifying our collective understanding of rivers and river research, while enriching the participatory and collaborative processes within the Riverhood and River Commons networks.
