The Ocean – Whose Territory Is It? Elements for a Coastal Anthropological Proposal

• Main Authors: Fabio Silva Vallejo, Alfonso Julián Montalvo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana 2009-01-01
• Series: Universitas Humanística
• Subjects: maritime; coastal; anthropology of fishing; tradition; Caribbean; dialogue of knowledge; conflict
• Online Access: http://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/index.php/univhumanistica/article/view/2274/1581

The present article is interested in asking a series of questions about the Colombian Caribbean Sea, its communities and the investigative process. There is a physical reality that establishes a cultural border with the insular Caribbean, from which there is a collection of vacuums in relation to the coastal marine ecosystem and the populations in those areas. The first part of this essay tries to provide some basics about the situation of the investigations and realities of the inhabitants of the coast; trying to balance the conditions of some of the representative economical regional activities and their impact on the communities.The second part is an ethnographic discussion of a specific coastal problem: fishermen, their reality and context. These are elements that cannot yet be articulated in an anthropology of fishing, maritime issues or the ocean itself, because thus far there are very few investigative and academic experiences about this subject.