Tejiendo Una Red De Resiliencia / Weaving a Web of Resilience: Internal Displacement, Social Networks and Urban Integration in Cartagena, Colombia
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Tejiendo una red de resiliencia / Weaving a web of resilience: Internal displacement, social networks and urban integration in Cartagena, Colombia by Jody Pollock B.A. in Urban Studies and Hispanic Studies University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2010) Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in City Planning at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2013 © 2013 Jody Pollock All Rights Reserved The author here by grants to MIT the permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of the thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Author ____________________________________________________________________ Department of Urban Studies and Planning May 23, 2013 Certified by ________________________________________________________________ Professor Xavier de Souza Briggs Department of Urban Studies and Planning Thesis Supervisor Accepted by ________________________________________________________________ Professor P. Christopher Zegras Chair, MCP Committee Department of Urban Studies and Planning 1 Tejiendo una red de resiliencia / Weaving a web of resilience: Internal displacement, social networks and urban integration in Cartagena, Colombia by Jody Pollock Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on May 23, 2013 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in City Planning ABSTRACT There are over 28.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world today because of conflict, human rights violations and situations of generalized violence. Colombia’s protracted internal armed conflict, which has lasted for over six decades, has resulted in the largest population of IDPs – up to 5.4 million as of 2012 – in the world. The vast majority migrates from rural areas to cities, settling on the urban periphery in historically poor neighborhoods. Taking Cartagena, Colombia as a revelatory case of IDP urban settlement, this thesis addresses these questions: In the face of ongoing violence, the disruption of spatial and social communities, and the dissolution of trust between individuals, organizations and the Colombian state, how do IDPs reconstitute social networks as part of integration into host cities? How are those social networks challenged and/or bolstered by the status and experience of displacement? Upon arrival in host cities, IDPs must satisfy basic survival needs (shelter, food, income), deal with trauma, and navigate shifting personal and collective identities in the aftermath of displacement. The individual and family-level strategies that IDPs develop to respond to these challenges ultimately require joining existing or forming new social networks for information sharing, economic support and emotional connection. Despite obstacles to community organizing (including direct threats and violence), these social networks sometimes morph into broader political coalitions, which serve as the base for social movements that make claims on the state. By learning from IDP settlement strategies, policymakers could develop more effective and durable solutions to address internal displacement and lay the groundwork for a more just and sustainable peace. I recommend: focusing on long-term IDP urban integration rather than on return to communities of origin, providing support to complement the foundation laid by IDP civil society organizations, and reframing policy away from short-term, household-level aid to target and support the social networks that form the basis of IDP resilience. Thesis Supervisor: Xavier de Souza Briggs Title: Associate Professor of Sociology and Urban Planning, MIT Readers: Diane Davis, Professor of Political Sociology, Harvard Alyssa Bryson, Program Director, Community Innovators Lab at MIT 2 Tejiendo una red de resiliencia / Weaving a web of resilience: Desplazamiento forzado, redes sociales e integración urbana en Cartagena, Colombia por Jody Pollock Entregado al Department of Urban Studies and Planning el 23 de mayo de 23 de 2013 in en cumplimiento parcial de los requisitos del Degree of Master in City Planning RESUMEN Actualmente, más de 28.8 millones de personas alrededor del mundo se encuentran en situación de desplazamiento forzado debido a conflictos internos, violaciones de los derechos humanos y situaciones de violencia generalizada. El conflicto armado de Colombia, que ha durado más de seis décadas, ha creado la población más grande de desplazados internos – hasta 5.4 millones en 2012 – en el mundo. La gran mayoría de los desplazados migran de zonas rurales a zonas urbanas, estableciéndose en las periferias de las ciudades en los barrios históricamente marginalizados. Usando a Cartagena, Colombia como un caso de estudio de la integración urbana de las poblaciones desplazadas, esta tesis responde a las siguientes dos preguntas: Dada la violencia persistente, el trastorno de las comunidades tanto espaciales como sociales, y la pérdida de la confianza entre individuos, organizaciones y el Estado Colombiano, ¿cómo se reconstituyen las redes sociales de los desplazados en el proceso de integración con las ciudades receptoras? ¿Cómo se retan y/o refuerzan esas redes sociales dado el estatus y la experiencia del desplazamiento forzado? Al llegar a las ciudades receptoras, los desplazados deben satisfacer sus necesidades básicas (vivienda, alimentación, ingresos), responder al trauma, y navegar los cambios de identidades tanto personales como colectivas. Las estrategias de supervivencia a nivel individual y familiar eventualmente requieren anexarse a una red social ya existente o formar una nueva para acceder a información, generar ingresos, y encontrar apoyo emocional. A pesar de los grandes obstáculos a la organización comunitaria (incluyendo a las amenazas directas y la violencia), las redes sociales de desplazados a veces llegan a convertirse en amplias coaliciones políticas, que sirven como base para movimientos sociales que reclaman al Estado. Mediante el aprendizaje de estrategias de integración urbana, los políticos pueden desarrollar soluciones duraderas al desplazamiento forzado. Recomendamos un nuevo enfoque en la integración de largo plazo de los desplazados en lugar del retorno a las comunidades de origen, el apoyo a las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, y una nueva política pública que apoye a las redes sociales de desplazados en lugar de sólo proveer ayuda humanitaria de corto plazo a nivel familar o individual. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 5 Prologue ...................................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2: Forced Displacement in Historical Context: Cartagena, Colombia ..... 23 Chapter 3: IDPs Respond to Urban Settlement .................................................................... 32 Chapter 4: (Re)Building Social Networks ................................................................................. 47 Chapter 5: Building Social Movements Against the Odds .............................................. 61 Chapter 6: IDPs Engaging with the State ................................................................................. 83 Chapter 7: Durable solutions? Addressing internal displacement in Colombia .. 104 References ............................................................................................................................................... 111 Glossary .................................................................................................................................................... 121 Appendix A: Gender and forced displacement in Colombia ................................................ 124 Appendix B: A closer look at the Victims’ Law ........................................................................... 127 Appendix C: Forging a women’s rights movement in Cartagena ...................................... 132 4 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to the resilient women and men of Cartagena. They shared their stories, their hopes and their lives with me over many cups of tinto, bumpy bus rides and long afternoons under the scorching summer sun. They were incredibly generous with their time, friendship and passion, and for that, I am ever grateful. I only hope this thesis can do their voices justice. The incredible staff and volunteers of LIMPAL in both Cartagena and Bogotá were kind enough to open their doors to me and guide me throughout my time in Colombia. Paola L., Bexi, Ricardo, Katherine, Ximena, Martha and Elizabeth: Thank you for your dedication to human rights, gender equality and peacebuilding. I also owe my gratitude to the following people for their insights, feedback and support throughout this process. Xav: Your guidance and thoughtful reflections have been invaluable over the past year and a half. I am continually impressed by your wealth of knowledge, and more importantly, by your wisdom. Aly: Your work was the initial spark for my interest in Colombia. Thank you for keeping me grounded, for supporting me when everything was going wrong and for always modeling a deep passion for community. Diane: