Mangroves of Memory: Black Aquatic Archives of Refuge and Futurity in the Colombian Caribbean

• In Event: The Afterlives of Waterways: Changing Sites of Violence, Resistance, and Histories across the African Diaspora

Description for Program

In Cartagena, Colombia, water and mangrove ecosystems reveal layered histories of Afro-Colombian survival, displacement, and care. These aqueous terrains act as thresholds—spaces of both nurturing and contestation—where Afro-Colombian communities reimagine belonging amidst ongoing urbanization and ecological degradation. Historically, these ecosystems have provided refuge during periods of colonial displacement, tourism expansion, state violence, and organized abandonment of predominantly Black neighborhoods.
Chambacú, a historic Afro-descendant neighborhood near Cartagena’s touristic historic center, serves as an organizing referent in this analysis. Its formation was rooted in the transformation of swamps into spaces of refuge and sustenance, while its eventual decimation in the 20th century reflected the violent displacement of its inhabitants under the guise of urban development. The swamps, central to Chambacú’s existence, encapsulate the duality of water as both a source of protection and vulnerability. This duality also frames contemporary struggles, particularly in the Caño Juan Angola, where long-standing communities that embody longer histories of intra-urban migrations and displacement have turned to mangroves for survival, ecological restoration, and resistance against state-led urban encroachments.
Drawing from oral histories, archival materials, and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper focuses on the Caño Juan Angola as a contested space of refuge and resistance. Today, grassroots efforts led by Afro-Colombian youth and marginalized communities defend the mangroves from threats such as pollution, informal settlements, and urban infrastructure expansion. These movements emphasize the mangroves not only as ecological sanctuaries but also as dynamic sites of home-making and collective memory.
Through an interdisciplinary lens grounded in Black Studies, this analysis reframes water and mangroves as "aquatic archives," preserving sedimented memories of colonial displacement, urban dispossession, and ecological stewardship. In doing so, it explores how mangroves embody a counter-hegemonic Black ecology, offering a model of insurgent governance that bridges historical accountability, community agency, and sustainable futures in the Colombian Caribbean.

Author

• Jameelah Morris, Western University