Indigenous Water Governance in the Anthropocene: Non- Conventional Hydrosocial Relations Among the Wayuu of the Guajira Peninsula in Northern Colombia
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-23-2020 Indigenous Water Governance in the Anthropocene: Non- Conventional Hydrosocial Relations Among the Wayuu of the Guajira Peninsula in Northern Colombia David A. Robles Florida International University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Robles, David A., "Indigenous Water Governance in the Anthropocene: Non-Conventional Hydrosocial Relations Among the Wayuu of the Guajira Peninsula in Northern Colombia" (2020). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4416. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4416 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida INDIGENOUS WATER GOVERNANCE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: NON- CONVENTIONAL HYDROSOCIAL RELATIONS AMONG THE WAYUU OF THE GUAJIRA PENINSULA IN NORTHERN COLOMBIA A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in GLOBAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES by David Robles 2020 To: Dean John F. Stack, Jr. Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs This dissertation, written by David Robles, and entitled Indigenous Water Governance in the Anthropocene: Non-Conventional Hydrosocial Relations Among the Wayuu of the Guajira Peninsula in Northern Colombia, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Elizabeth Anderson _______________________________________ Kevin Grove _______________________________________ Dennis Wiedman _______________________________________ Juliet Erazo, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 23, 2020 The dissertation of David Robles is approved. _______________________________________ Dean John F. Stack, Jr. Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs _______________________________________ Andrés G. Gil Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School Florida International University, 2020 ii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Orlando and Mary, for always believing in me and for their unwavering support. I look up to you both and I hope I make you proud as much as you make me proud. And to my wife Edith, son Shane, and daughter Leilani, I have learned so much from you about life, love and about being a kid at heart. I hope I inspire you as much as you inspire me. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the Wayuu people for inspiring me to explore their intimate relationship with water. I thank the Wayuu inhabitants of Mayapo, Cardón, Irraipa and members of several other communities on the Guajira Peninsula that took the time to share with me their knowledge, concerns and hopes about water and life. I hope my dissertation contributes to the positive recognition of the Wayuu society’s relation- ship with this vital liquid. I want to recognize the work of my field assistants, co-workers and Wayuu translators in La Guajira, Colombia: Jasai Pérez, Nelvis Ipuana, Arnoldo Pimienta, Aida Kuast, Erika Muñoz, Clemencia Pushaina, Elidys Herrera and Margelis Illidge. Without them, information gathering would have been impossible. I appreciate the cooperation of the Cerrejón Foundation for Progress of La Guajira for allowing me to use information from the project “Design of a Sustainability Strategy for Five Water Supply Systems in the Wayuu Communities of La Gran Vía, Kaiwa, Kaleruwou, Jotomana and Utaykala- mana in the Colombian Upper Guajira.” I want to recognize the passion and work ethic of the project manager Orlando Scoppetta and the project coordinator Mildred Nájera. The project introduced me to the complexity of water interventions in Wayuu territory and motivated me to deepen my understanding of the topic through doctoral research. Thank you to Dr. Alexis Carabalí and Dr. Martha Ligia Castellanos of the Semi- Arid Territories of the Caribbean Research Group of the University of La Guajira. I appreciate their continued support and for giving me the opportunity to work with them on the Colciencias project “Guidelines for the Coastal and Marine Territorial Ordering in iv the Province of La Guajira based on its Cultural Diversity.” This experience allowed me to visit several distant Wayuu communities that add breadth to my dissertation research. A special thank you to my committee members, Dr. Juliet Erazo, Dr. Elizabeth Anderson, Dr. Kevin Grove and Dr. Dennis Wiedman. I have learned a great deal about being a dedicated, well-rounded scholar through your teaching, advising, writing and professionalism. I especially want to thank my adviser, Dr. Juliet Erazo, for her mentorship during my time at FIU and for the time and effort she dedicated to improving my dissertation. I feel lucky to have had her as my adviser and to have been part of such a dynamic department and a great cohort. Much of my dissertation writing was done in my aunt’s apartment overlooking the central plaza in Riohacha, Colombia. Day after day, the tranquility of her home, her encouragement and endless supply of coffee and fruit truly made dissertation writing enjoyable. Gracias, Tía Pau! I also broadened my professional skills by entering the wonderful world of map making. Thank you to Sheyla Santana at the FIU GIS Center and fellow grad students Melissa Bernardo, Karina Livingston and Adrian Cetina for helping me out. Finally, I want to acknowledge those who funded my doctoral studies, conference trips, dissertation fieldwork and dissertation writing: Florida International University’s UGS Graduate Assitantship, the FIU Doctoral Year Fellowship, the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, the Global and Sociocultural Studies Department, the Graduate & Professional Student Committee and the Tinker Foundation. Thank you to all for giving me the opportunity to expand my knowledge and appreciation of the Wayuu world. v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION INDIGENOUS WATER GOVERNANCE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: NON- CONVENTIONAL HYDROSOCIAL RELATIONS AMONG THE WAYUU OF THE GUAJIRA PENINSULA IN NORTHERN COLOMBIA by David Robles Florida International University, 2020 Miami, Florida Professor Juliet Erazo, Major Professor The dissertation problematizes the supremacy of a global water management regime while discerning and defending local Wayuu hydrosocial relations. The Wayuu relationship with water—considered non-conventional, unsanitary or insecure according to hegemonic Western standards—can also be characterized positively as alternative, resilient, sustainable, adaptive and exceptional. Contemporary water governance presents challenges yet also opportunities for the Wayuu and other Indigenous peoples to (re)- assert and (re)establish contextualized and culturally specific practices, traditions and ways of knowing that have been historically silenced by conventional water management. The Wayuu territory, located on the semi-arid Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia, is widely considered a region suffering from chronic food and water insecur- ity, aggravated by climate change and exacerbated by widespread corruption and political instability. In response, a conventional approach presumes that the Wayuu are in urgent need of assistance and the solution to the water problem lies in installing waterworks; instructing the Wayuu in acceptable water, sanitation and hygiene behaviors; and vi instilling good water governance practices. I argue that this common discourse is a repre- sentation of reality that uses epistemological assumptions, vested authority, rhetoric and specialized terminology to present a dominant —yet deceptive and partial—depiction of Wayuu–water relations. While some resource management experts are confident that integration is possible between Indigenous and Western knowledge systems, critical social scientists from political ecology and ontological anthropology find bridging initiatives problematic. While political ecology emphasizes the politics and contested nature of water accessibi- lity between different social actors, ontological anthropology underscores the deep ontological divide that impedes mutual understanding and integration of water knowledge systems. Informed by the debates in these fields, I use ethnographic evidence from over 80 Wayuu communities, including survey data, mapping, semi-structured interviews, participant observation and discourse analysis, to explore the (in)commensurability between “non-conventional” Wayuu hydrosocial relations and the dominant conventional water management regime. The dissertation research found that a generalized pattern of failed or faulty water development projects throughout Wayuu territory meant to increase water security often produce water insecurity and increased vulnerability, further exacer- bating the precarity caused by anthropogenic climatic change. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION - THE (IM)POSSIBILITY OF BRIDGING WESTERN AND INDIGENOUS EPISTEMOLOGIES ................................................................................. 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................