Articulations and Erasures of the Black Sense of Place in Colombia

Abstract

This analysis focuses on the sitios, vegas, and rozas which have historically shaped the spatial categories of the Black populations in southwestern Colombia. These locations represent a vernacular geographical language through which Black communities have constituted and imagined their Black worlds. In contrast, the haciendas or cattle ranches have played a role in spatialising the coloniality of power. In this paper, I analyse ethnographically, on the one hand, how sitios, vegas, and rozas have historically articulated Black spatial imaginaries and practices in southwestern Colombia. On the other hand, the haciendas have implied the erasure of Black spatial experiences. Based on the concept of a Black sense of place and establishing theoretical bridges between the decolonial and ontological turn, I argue that, through the geographical principles of location, distribution, and relation, the Black populations enact inside practices that assemble, choreograph, and define their sense of place. I also argue that the Black sense of place has been erased in the area of study, through spatial tactics, such as dispossession, invisibility, and terror.