Ancestral Land, Territorial Displacement and the New Identity of “Mujer Negra Desplazada” in Bogotá, Colombia

In recent years, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have expressed alarm about Human Right Violations against indigenous, black and mestizo communities in Colombia. These communities were rural and were previously forcibly displaced in the city of Ciudad Bolivar. Using ethnography and testimonials collected in Bogotá, this project explores the role of displacement in the lives of a group of black displaced women who experienced it firsthand. I incorporate these women’s stories prior to their displacement, focusing specifically on their relationships to their land. I examine the radical break from their land and territory, which resulted in a lost sense of identity. This examination of testimonial narrative and memory of black displaced women points out how their life is being impacted by their displacement and why they feel essentially lost and “community-less” in their new surroundings. This paper answers one question: How forced land and territorial displacement disrupts their ability of living as a community, and what is to be a “mujer negra desplazada” or black displaced woman in their “new” home in the city of Bogotá