This project consisted of four Work Packages with three objectives corresponding to the first three work packages. The fourth work package consisted of project management and communications. Unfortunately, due to the COVID19 pandemic and the associated restrictions that were implemented both in Sweden and Colombia, there are several deviations from the original plan, as I will describe below:
Work Package 1 consisted on approaching the matters of concern of local communities, which would allow me to identify key actors and issues. In order to gain a regional perspective, I planned assess the spatial distribution of local land-uses in conflict with the proposed extractive project, where I selected Cumaral in the Llanos region of Colombia. Then, I planned to proceed to conduct interviews with the people that can potentially be affected directly by the project. Also, during this work package I wanted to implement a workshop to get actors’ ideas about and visions of the future and of development. The Work Package could not be implemented as planned due to the COVID19 pandemic. Nevertheless, I managed to conduct some online interviews and hired a field assistant in Colombia to conduct additional interviews in Cumaral, in the Llanos region.
In Work Package 2 I planned to focus on the stories and perceptions concerning the vote, as well as the relations of those stories to local livelihoods. This would allow me to trace the relations between the actors and how they are positioned in respect to one another and how they came to decide how to cast their vote in a certain way. I planned to include interviews with the array of actors present in the dispute (i.e. authorities, associations, NGOs, industry, media). The fieldwork would inform me of the actors’ values, perceptions and opinions concerning the way social protest and campaigning are being conducted. However, due to the COVID 19 related restrictions, I could not conduct the planned fieldwork. The data I have for the project was collected online by me and in Colombia by a field assistant as previously described.
Work Package 3 consisted of collecting and analysing documentation from the field (i.e. posters, graffiti, signs, online groups, twitter, reports etc.) which would show the ways in which local actors position themselves in the controversy. This would allow me to chart claims, trace their sources, and gain an overview of the relation of the different positions and the social and political motivations in the discourses. The reception of the outcome of the referendum will likewise be charted and analysed. Due to the COVID19 related restrictions this Work Package was not possible to be carried out.
Work package 4 comprises activities for management and communication of the project, which contribute towards and are part of each work package. These include presentations at conferences, the organisation of workshops and the video blog. Despite the COVID19 pandemic, I managed to participate remotely in conferences, participate in Workshops and seminars and co-organise a conference at Gothenburg University.
Article manuscripts produced:
• Can direct democracy deliver an alternative to extractivism? An essay on Popular Consultations (Article under second round of peer-review submitted to the Journal of Political Geography)
• Oil and Water: Trade-offs in the opposition to extractive industries during popular consultations in Colombia (Article that will be submitted to Antipode)
Presentations at conferences:
• 2022. Acosta García, Nicolás & Lopez, Fernando. Oil and Water: Trade-offs in the opposition to extractive industries during popular consultations in Colombia. Conference of the Swedish Anthropological Association. Gothenburg, Sweden.
• 2021. Acosta García, Nicolás & Fold, Niels. The coloniality of power on the green frontier: commodities and violent territorialisation in Colombia’s Amazon. Imagining Peace Otherwise: Five years of the Colombian peace accords experienced from the margins. Gothenburg, Sweden
• 2020. Acosta García, Nicolás. Can direct democracy deliver an alternative to extractivism? Act Sustainable. Gothenburg, Sweden.
• 2020. Acosta García, Nicolás. Democracy, activism and extractivism. Global Sustainable futures. Gothenburg, Sweden.
Outreach activities undertaken. The researcher was asked to write a piece for the journal Clarté and was interviewed by two news outlets:
• Co-organisation of the conference: Imagining Peace Otherwise: Five years of the Colombian peace accords experienced from the margins. Gothenburg, Sweden
• Acosta García, Nicolás. Narkostaten. Clarté 3: 32-34
https://clarte.se/clarte-pa-naetet/3-2021/118807-Narkostaten-1188(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) • EXPRESSEN.SE : Protester bemöts med polisvåld: ”Det saknar motstycke”
https://www.expressen.se/tv/nyheter/protester-bemots-med-polisvald-det-saknar-motstycke/(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) • ARBETAREN: Colombia: Det ligger bakom protesterna.
https://www.arbetaren.se/2021/05/13/colombia-det-ligger-bakom-protesterna/(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
