What do you explore in your PhD-project?
I explore the relationship between collective identity and place/territory, and the ways in which this relation is mobilised by different groups in the Colombian Andean-Amazonic territory of Putumayo to resist extractivism, and defend ways of being and knowing, that have been historically marginalized, and enact desired worlds.
Do you have any results or findings yet?
As we speak, September 2023, we have found two grand-ironies.The first one is that as environmental consciousness and the desires for environmental sustainability and justice become more widespread, places like the Putumayo are experiencing a simultaneous increase in violence against territorial and environmental defenders. The second one is that as the Amazon and the Andes are increasingly recognized to not only have value for humanity in fights against climate change and biodiversity loss, but as places inhabited by peoples with ancestral knowledges and practices that have had an influence in creating these ecologically wonderful places, there is a desire to extract resources and therefore destroy these ecologically and culturally wealthy places for the sake of “saving the planet”.
What excites you most with your research?
Honestly, the most exciting thing about my research to me is that even though I live thousands of kilometers away from my home country, I get to do research that is relevant for the lived reality there. At the same time, and maybe from a nerdier perspective, one of my favorite things about the research is writing about it!
What is your background?
I have a bachelor’s degree in law and actually practiced as a lawyer for a few years in Colombia before I moved to Sweden. Later on I did my master´s degree here at LUCSUS.
What do you hope your research can contribute with to society?
I hope my research can contribute to social life in specific places rather than to a broadly defined society. My biggest hope is that my research plays a role in emancipatory causes currently happening in the Putumayo around a copper mine.
I hope my research can contribute to social life in specific places rather than to a broadly defined society. My biggest hope is that my research plays a role in emancipatory causes currently happening in the Putumayo around a copper mine.
What sustainability challenges are most pressing?
To me, the three most pressing sustainability challenges are (i) the loss of biological and cultural diversity in specific places of the world, (ii) that the way climate change is governed by nation-states that at the moment is not delivering results at the pace and scale that the climate emergency demands, and last but not least (iii) that sustainability cannot happen within capitalism.
What is your experience of doing a PhD at LUCSUS (and in Sweden)?
I think Sweden is one of the most privileged places in the world to do a PhD. About LUCSUS, I quite like its environment of theoretical and methodological openness without letting go of scientific rigor!
