Socio-cultural dynamics and economic alternatives of women in a context of extractivist mining economy

Abstract

This article describes the socio-cultural dynamics present in the village of Puerto Claver, municipality of El Bagre-Antioquia, as a result of the mining economic context. The phenomenological approach allowed an approach to the social realities from the daily life of the people, their life experiences and stories. One result is that the practice of gold mining, rooted in the township as the main economic alternative, generates uprooting from other forms of survival, such as harvesting and planting food and medicinal plants, fishing and beekeeping. As the relationship with the environment changes, so do social relations, pre-existing socio-cultural dynamics and the social and community fabric. In this context, women's associations play a significant role in the re-signification and dynamization of alternative economic processes to mining practices, which transform social and community relations.