Thinking the Anthropocene against the Backdrop of Armed Conflict: Territory as a Place for Cognitive Production, Affective Participation, and Discursive Imagination

Abstract

This article reflects on the Anthropocene against the backdrop of armed conflict. To this end, it analyses two mining projects: one in southwestern Antioquia in Colombia and the other in the Luhwindja Chiefdom in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After examining the post-agreement and post-war political contexts of each country, this paper describes the extraction projects implemented in the territories, as well as the forms of resistance of the local populations. It also depicts the reconstruction of the territory as a place for cognitive production, affective participation, and discursive imagination. The very concept of territory is re-signified, beyond its geographical definition, as a territory of life.

Keywords

• anthropocene
• armed conflict
• extractivism
• popular resistance
• territory