Abstract

MONTERO, Camilo Andrés Salcedo. Governing and classifying over a peasant territory: social effects on a dam project establishment in Huila, Colombia. Etnográfica [online]. 2024, vol.28, n.1, pp.51-73.  Epub Apr 18, 2024. ISSN 0873-6561.  https://doi.org/10.4000/etnografica.15225.

In this paper, I present the results of ethnographic research that analyzes the social effects on peasant communities (dedicated to working the land and fishing in the river) due to the delivery of compensation and the carrying out of works for the installation of the hydroelectric dam “El Quimbo”, located in the inter-Andean valleys of the Upper Magdalena River basin, in Huila, Colombia. Those lands were flooded in 2015, and affected people received different treatments that changed their relationships with the land, the river and their communities. Thus, the theoretical contribution of the article lies in the dialogue between ecological economics and economic anthropology, hence I describe the effects of restricting to a value paid in cash or measured in productivity regarding the social value of the elements present in the territory (land, river, forest) and community relations. Methodologically, six standard-situations were constructed inductively based on interviews and conversations collected in fieldwork that covered various moments between 2010 and 2021. The six standard-situations evince the effects on the social positions of affected groups: some partially reproduced their relations with the land; some began a situation of new subordination; and others were expropriated from the reproduction of their previous social relations. I complemented the article with secondary sources based on a review of archives, newspapers, and public documents of the company and the social movement.

Keywords : compensation; ecological economy; hydroelectric plants; dam-affected people; peasants.

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