Defender el agua que no se ve: liderazgos hidrofeministas del pueblo Wayúu y la política de las aguas subterráneas en La Guajira
Quiroga, Catalina LU and Montañez, Kimberly LU
(2026)
In Ecología Política: Cuadernos de Debate Internacional
71.
- Abstract
- In La Guajira, a semi-arid region in northern Colombia, groundwater constitutes the primary water reserve for Wayúu communities. However, its management is often reduced to technical metrics of depth and extraction, rendering invisible the territorial and embodied knowledges that sustain life. Drawing on Latin American feminist political ecology and the water–body–territory framework, this article analyzes how Wayúu women interpret and defend deep wells as vital infrastructures and political spaces. Based on qualitative fieldwork, we argue that the state of the aquifer is read through embodied bioindicators—taste, smell, dreams, animal behavior, and infrastructural failures—that articulate human and non-human bodies as sensors of the... (More)
- In La Guajira, a semi-arid region in northern Colombia, groundwater constitutes the primary water reserve for Wayúu communities. However, its management is often reduced to technical metrics of depth and extraction, rendering invisible the territorial and embodied knowledges that sustain life. Drawing on Latin American feminist political ecology and the water–body–territory framework, this article analyzes how Wayúu women interpret and defend deep wells as vital infrastructures and political spaces. Based on qualitative fieldwork, we argue that the state of the aquifer is read through embodied bioindicators—taste, smell, dreams, animal behavior, and infrastructural failures—that articulate human and non-human bodies as sensors of the subsurface. We contend that these practices produce forms of hydofeminist leadership that challenge dominant technical authority and reconfigure the subsurface as a space of territorial defense. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/6f65682a-c693-4735-874b-25f874da96b1
- author
- Quiroga, Catalina
LU
and Montañez, Kimberly
LU
- organization
- alternative title
- Defending the Water We Cannot See: Wayúu Hydrofeminist Leadership and the Politics of Groundwater in La Guajira
- publishing date
- 2026-06
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- agua-cuerpo-territorio, infraestructuras, pozos profundos, liderazgos de mujeres
- in
- Ecología Política: Cuadernos de Debate Internacional
- volume
- 71
- publisher
- FUHEM Ecosocial
- ISSN
- 1130-6378
- language
- Spanish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 6f65682a-c693-4735-874b-25f874da96b1
- alternative location
- https://www.ecologiapolitica.info/breves-quiroga-montanez/
- https://www.ecologiapolitica.info/producte/71-hidrofeminismos/
- date added to LUP
- 2026-09-02 13:51:25
- date last changed
- 2026-09-03 15:59:04
@article{6f65682a-c693-4735-874b-25f874da96b1,
abstract = {{In La Guajira, a semi-arid region in northern Colombia, groundwater constitutes the primary water reserve for Wayúu communities. However, its management is often reduced to technical metrics of depth and extraction, rendering invisible the territorial and embodied knowledges that sustain life. Drawing on Latin American feminist political ecology and the water–body–territory framework, this article analyzes how Wayúu women interpret and defend deep wells as vital infrastructures and political spaces. Based on qualitative fieldwork, we argue that the state of the aquifer is read through embodied bioindicators—taste, smell, dreams, animal behavior, and infrastructural failures—that articulate human and non-human bodies as sensors of the subsurface. We contend that these practices produce forms of hydofeminist leadership that challenge dominant technical authority and reconfigure the subsurface as a space of territorial defense.}},
author = {{Quiroga, Catalina and Montañez, Kimberly}},
issn = {{1130-6378}},
keywords = {{agua-cuerpo-territorio; infraestructuras; pozos profundos; liderazgos de mujeres}},
language = {{spa}},
publisher = {{FUHEM Ecosocial}},
series = {{Ecología Política: Cuadernos de Debate Internacional}},
title = {{Defender el agua que no se ve: liderazgos hidrofeministas del pueblo Wayúu y la política de las aguas subterráneas en La Guajira}},
url = {{https://www.ecologiapolitica.info/breves-quiroga-montanez/}},
volume = {{71}},
year = {{2026}},
}