The social life of a flood - Experiences of medium and small rice growers in the face of the Caregato flood, Ayapel, Colombia

This research paper analyzes the social life of the Caregato flood that took place in the municipality of Ayapel, municipality of Córdoba, Subregion of La Mojana, Colombia, in the year 2021. To do this, I will focus on how medium and small rice farmers in this municipality experienced, conceptualized and contested this flood. In order to understand the experiences of rice farmers, I will describe the processes of conceptualization and materialization of floods in Ayapel. I will explain how flood waters have been used to create boundaries between water and land and promote the expansion of the agricultural frontier. I will describe the ecological relationships that occur on this frontier and the human and non-human actors that have a presence on it. I will show the flood event, and analyze how the disastrous waters contest, challenge and rapidly change the boundaries constructed between river water and arable land, while altering the agrarian dynamics of small and medium rice farmers in the region. I will expose how rice farmers respond to the socioeconomic, political and ecological challenges provoked by the Caregato flood. By way of conclusion, and through the lens of political ecology, I propose some key elements for understanding floods in development policies and interventions.