Gendered meanings of place/space, community and empowerment. Experiences of Afro-Colombian displaced women from the Pacific Region, Colombia

This research is about the meanings of place, the processes of displacement, community building, and struggles for empowerment narrated by Afro-Colombian women community leaders in Cali, Colombia. The section Reforma rural integral part of the ‘Peace Agreement’ signed by the Colombian government and the FARC-EP defines the place as an economic asset restricting it to its physic meaning in contrast to the definitions given by the women who also attached to place symbolic and social meanings. This study relies on a phenomenon of individual and collective political struggles around place/space in which these five women engage in collective action countering injustices perpetrated against the displaced Afro-Colombian people during Colombian violent conflict. In doing so, these women build their roles within the new communities in Cali following or challenging patterns of gender identity and engaged in institutional processes in order to provide themselves means to survive in the city and overcome the label of ‘victims’. The intent is to demonstrate how through the narratives the five displaced Afro-Colombian women create a place for themselves in different ways, through intersections of gender, race, age, and family, as well as through loss and struggle. They show women’s gendered perception of the old and the new places that go beyond economic benefits and that influence women’s empowerment.