Between hope & fire: Rural communities, women's capabilities, & land changes in El Carmen de Bolívar, Colombia
Advisor: Dr. McKenzie Johnson
Zoom link: https://go.nres.illinois.edu/QuijanoHoyos
This thesis examines environmental and human development transformations in El Carmen de Bolívar, from 2000 to 2023, across shifting dynamics of conflict and peacebuilding. Using qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, and literature review, it explores how natural resource governance does not follow a linear transition from war to peace. Instead, conflict and peace processes are overlapping and often contradictory. The first chapter analyzes environmental changes alongside local narratives to show how natural resources have acted as victims, financiers, and benefactors throughout different phases. While some interventions enabled recovery and local capacity-building, others reproduced exclusion, land concentration, and new forms of dispossession. The second chapter focuses on rural women’s changing roles in environmental management. It highlights growing leadership and participation, while also addressing persistent inequalities—such as machismo, land access, and ongoing violence—that shape their capabilities and constrain peacebuilding outcomes. These findings challenge models of peace and environmental-peacebuilding.
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