New expressions of resistance by women affected by territorial interventions

Abstract

This article analyzes the dynamics utilized by women impacted by territorial interventions. The process of calculating indemnities from government authorities and business after events that drastically alter the daily lives of families and communities (whether natural disasters or large-scale development projects such as dams or mining operations) involves converting losses into monetary values. Suddenly being subjected to calculations of the symbolic value of assets such as a home, a backyard, or areas dedicated to extractivism (which are all associated with emotions that cannot possibly be measured) is a domestication of violent experiences through techniques and instruments. This article examines how women affected by these tragedies create strategies to subvert the hegemonic modes of exercising control over territorial management, tactics which signal a political practice that is part of an ecofeminist and relational epistemology.