Las dimensiones ontoepistemológicas de la minería aurífera ancestral en Colombia: evidencias del Resguardo Indígena Cañamomo y Lomaprieta / The Onto-Epistemological Dimensions of Ancestral Gold Mining in Colombia: Evidence from the Cañamomo and Lomaprieta Indigenous Reservation

Abstract

The emergence of non-dualist ontologies, in combination with a renewed interest in relational worldviews of indigenous peoples, has forged new analytical frameworks that seek to reevaluate worldviews and knowledge systems of marginalized peoples in the Global South. An important project to recover this “pluriverse” is the Epistemologies of the South framework, which is used in this article to analyze the geography of conflicts in the Cañamomo and Lomaprieta indigenous reservation in the department of Caldas, Colombia. Based on an analysis of qualitative interviews that were carried out in this indigenous reservation during the period 2018-2020, we argue that the struggle for ancestral gold mining is not only an ontological struggle for ancestral territory, but also an epistemological struggle in defense of ancestral mining knowledge and practices. These onto-epistemological dimensions serve as inputs for an emerging definition of ancestral gold mining. As such, the contribution made in this article has a dual purpose: on the one hand, it seeks to provide knowledge that stimulates debates from the Global South on ontological struggles and the construction of alternative territorialities in mining areas while, on the other hand, it contributes to current debates on ancestral mining in Colombia.