Guaqueras and Campesinas in Western Boyacá, Colombia

Author

María F. Buitrago, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

2-2025

Document Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

M.A.

Program

Digital Humanities

Advisor

Aránzazu Borrachero Mendívil

Subject Categories

Digital Humanities

Keywords

Boyacá, Colombia, emerald extraction, community archives, digital archives, women miners, agricultural women

Abstract

Guaqueras and Campesinas in Western Boyacá (https://mariabuitsan.github.io/guaqueras-ycampesinas/) is a digital memory project chronicling the lives and labors of women residing in the emerald-producing municipalities of Colombia. The project explores women’s remarkable resilience amidst a historically extractive and patriarchal emerald economy by co-creating an online collection enriched with various sources such as interviews, photos of artifacts, and audio from fieldwork. The collection uses Dédalo, a free and open-source Cultural Heritage and Management System, to store, digitize, and index all the unedited material and presents a selection of these resources through a static website. The collection intends to illuminate and honor the contributions of women miners (guaqueras) and agricultural women (campesinas) to western Boyacá’s history.

Much of the scholarly research on this region has focused on violent conflicts over emerald mines and trade, almost exclusively highlighting masculine figures. The stories of the women who have lived, constructed, and nourished this territory are scarcely recognized. Simultaneously, the emerald trade conflicts involved severe violations of women’s and girl’s rights, which have been barely documented. The collection opens space for thinking through these experiences and denouncing harmful practices, following a “slow archives” approach (Christen & Anderson, 2019).

Documenting Colombian rural women’s lives within a digital environment is another way to participate in the most significant dream of reexamining parts of our past internal conflict and propelling other possible futures.

Recommended Citation

Buitrago, María F., "Guaqueras and Campesinas in Western Boyacá, Colombia" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6184