Territory, Dispossession and Resistance in the Black Spanish Caribbean

本论文研究了哥伦比亚加勒比地区逃亡奴隶后裔的社区自17世纪以来如何经历了国家、白人精英地主和武装团体的土地掠夺;以及这些地方如何制定法律的和非法律战略来抵制集体土地损失。一些城市的抵抗策略根源于Marronage的做法。Marronage是非洲人和妇女逃离城市，大农场和矿山的奴隶制，在偏远和难以进入的地区建立自治社区的行为。哥伦比亚的这些社区被称为palenques（Navarante 2003; McFarlane 2008）。我的研究对象是北方哥伦比亚的圣巴西利奥德帕伦克（圣巴西利奥），是帕伦克人之一，他们于1714年与殖民当局签署了和平条约，获得了自由和领土。圣巴西利奥仍然居住着逃跑奴隶的后代（Navarante 2008; Cassiani 2014; Castaño 2015）。由于非自治化、暴力和贫困，一些居民移民到国外，在城市和农村地区形成新的社区，他们努力保持自己的身份和与圣巴西利奥的联系。这些移民社区与圣巴西利奥建立了一个领土网络，这些领土拥有共同的抵抗土地掠夺的战略。该研究采用了定性研究方法，如档案研究、半结构化访谈和基于社区或参与性绘图，得出了一些重要结论：（1）殖民地的圈地战略（创造空间以克服背井离乡）仍然是当前社区抵制土地丧失战略的基础;（2）哥伦比亚国家部署的土地权话语，远远没有保护社区，事实上反而助长了土地掠夺。这种法律的论述将圣巴西利奥的领土构建为一个空的空间，没有居住者否认其自1714年以来对其土地的掠夺和所有权的历史。圣巴西利奥的空置空间被武装团体、商业公司和白人精英地主占据。该奖学金将通过四项奖学金成果加强我的研究经验，使我在英国一流大学获得全职学术职位，同时对弱势群体产生积极影响：1）我的博士论文中的两篇文章将发表在高级别期刊上，面向广泛的受众，包括学术和非学术用户。我还将出版一份简报，供利益攸关方使用，以告知社区土地权利委员会。2）一个传播简报和博士研究结果的讲习班将汇集学术界和利益攸关方，以确定一个共同的行动计划，为加勒比黑人社区归还土地。这次讲习班的成果将在一个研讨会上介绍，我打算沿着与SCin在皇家地理学会会议上组织。3）将在哥伦比亚的Pontificia UniversidadJaveriana的一个专门从事种族研究的中心进行为期一个月的实习，促进传播、联网、在太平洋地区的黑人社区中，（该中心的专业知识）和加勒比地区（我的论文研究）。4）将在巴拿马城的圣巴西利奥成员的黑人区进行为期一个月的试点研究，包括半结构化访谈和参与性绘图。这一新的个案研究将探讨哥伦比亚加勒比地区黑人社区未经探索的4跨国被迫移徙问题。这项研究将使我成为一个专家之间的交叉点种族和生产空间的黑人社区在西班牙加勒比海地区，更广泛地在拉丁美洲

This thesis examined how communities of descendants of runaway slaves in the Colombian Caribbean have experiencedland grabbing since the 17th century by the actions of the state, white-elite landowners and armed groups; and how thesecommunities have developed legal and non-legal strategies to resist collective land loss since then. Some of thecommunities' strategies of resistance have their roots in the practice of marronage. Marronage was the act of Africanmen and women escaping from slavery in the cities, large farms, and mines to establish autonomous communities inremote and inaccessible areas. These communities in Colombia were known as palenques (Navarrete 2003; McFarlane2008). The subject of my research, San Basilio de Palenque (San Basilio), in Northern Colombia, was one of the palenques,who signed a peace treaty in 1714 with the colonial authorities obtaining freedom and territory. San Basilio is stillinhabited by the descendants of runaway slaves (Navarrete 2008; Cassiani 2014; Castaño 2015). Due todeterritorialisation, violence and poverty, some of its residents have migrated beyond its borders to form newcommunities in cities and rural areas from which they have fought to retain their identity and ties to San Basilio. Thesemigratory communities with San Basilio create a network of territories that share common strategies of resistance againstland grabbing. Using qualitative research methods, such as archival research, semi-structured interviews andcommunity-based or participatory mapping, the study made a number of key findings:(1) that the colonial strategy ofmarronage (to create space to overcome uprootedness) is still the basis of current community strategies to resist landloss; and (2)that the discourse of land rights deployed by the Colombian state, far from protecting the community, infact, contributed to land grabbing. This legal discourse constructs the territory of San Basilio as an empty space with nooccupants denying its history of marronage and ownership of their lands since 1714. This construction of the space ofSan Basilio as vacant has allowed its grabbing by armed groups, business companies and white-elite landowners.The fellowship will strengthen my research experience through four fellowship outcomes towards a full-time academicposition in a UK leading university while creating a positive impact on disadvantaged communities:1) Two articles from my doctoral thesis will be published in high-ranking journals targeting a broad audience thatincludes academic and non-academic users. I will also publish a brief for the use of stakeholders to inform thecommunity land rights agenda.2) A workshop for the dissemination of the brief and doctoral findings will bring together academics andstakeholders to identify a common action plan for land restitution for the black communities of the ColombianCaribbean. The results of this workshop will be presented in a seminar that I aim to organise along with the SCSin the Royal Geographical Society Conference.3) A one-month placement will take place in a centre specialised in Race Studies in the Pontificia UniversidadJaveriana in Colombia promoting dissemination, networking, and knowledge exchange between differentpatterns of forced displacement occurred in black communities in the Pacific (the centre's expertise) and in theCaribbean (my thesis study). It will also identify academics to join the stakeholders' s workshop.4) A one-month pilot study including semi-structured interviews and participatory mapping will be conducted inblack districts of members of San Basilio in Panama City. This new case study will address the unexplored4transnational forced migration of the black communities of the Colombian Caribbean. This study will allow meto become an expert in the intersections between race and the production of spaces of the black communities inthe Spanish Caribbean, and more broadly in Latin America