624. The meanings of the territory. Interpretative essay of the speeches on the territory of social movements in Colombia

Abstract

The polysemy of the territory is high in the academic debate and in the discourses of the social movements. In Latin America and Colombia in particular, the territory was built as an object of social demands that claim the “right to the territory” and that oppose the hegemonic conception of the territory promoted by the official policies of territorial management. New and ancient territorial resistances are formed on the basis of alternative territorial conceptions, which stress the state territory. This article traces the significance of territory according to various local Colombian social organizations (urban, peasant, indigenous, Afro-descendant) to understand the diversity of practices and meanings that arise from the local reappropriation of the concept of territory.