Remembering the past, sowing the future: Plants and the reconfiguration of the territory in Bellavista, Bojayá

Abstract

The article presents the results of an investigation on the feminine work of sowing in domestic spaces and the role of plants in the reterritorialization process of an Afro-Colombian community, displaced and relocated due to the Bojayá massacre in 2002. Through participant observation, interviews and life stories, I examine the experience of six women who reconstruct a miscellany of plants in the new settlement. Their knowledge and practices demonstrate how women activate their capacities and revitalize the cultivation of commonly used plants to reconfigure and resignify life in this new territory institutionally arranged.