“LEVANTÉ MIS HIJOS, MI MAMÁ ME LEVANTO”: THE CANDY TRADE OF PALENQUERAS WOMEN

Abstract

This article results from ethnographic research carried out with Black women traders from San Basilio de Palenque, in the Colombian Caribbean. It describes the displacements, circulation and labor arrangements that were and are vital to the existence of them, their families and their community, historically formed by Cimarrone people. It seeks to analyze the specificity of the candy trade of palenkeras, who sell their products in Colombian cities and border countries, a way of work that demands from them, in addition to mobility, the cultivation of expanded family networks, as well as the exchange of knowledge, solidarity and support in several cities. The aim is to carry out an analysis that considers the ways and relationships of work of palenkeras, highlighting the strategies and meanings of their work activities, such as exploration, protagonism, dignity, autonomy, social change, but also suffering and ambiguities, since their bodies and their health are shaped by the interdependence of sweets.