Between hope and fire: rural communities, women’s capabilities, and land changes in El Carmen de Bolívar, Colombia
Quijano Hoyos, Manuela
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/130057
Description
Title
Between hope and fire: rural communities, women’s capabilities, and land changes in El Carmen de Bolívar, Colombia
Author(s)
Quijano Hoyos, Manuela
Issue Date
2025-07-25
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Johnson, McKenzie F.
Committee Member(s)
Novoa, Magdalena
Rodriguez, Luz A.
Department of Study
Natural Res & Env Sci
Discipline
Natural Res & Env Sciences
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
Environmental Peacebuilding
Conflict Cycle
Land Cover
Land Changes
Capabilities
Women
Colombia
Language
eng
Abstract
This thesis examines environmental and human development transformations in El Carmen de Bolívar, Colombia, from 2000 to 2023, across shifting dynamics of conflict and peacebuilding. Using qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, and a literature review, it explores how perceptions of natural resource change illuminate lived experiences of conflict and environmental peacebuilding (EPB). Few studies traced how peace and violence fluctuate over time in relation to environmental change—an important gap this research seeks to address. The analysis shows conflict and peace processes are overlapping and often contradictory, creating an ambiguous path toward peace. It highlights the mixed outcomes of EPB strategies, which can lead to both positive and negative consequences for the environment. Chapter three examine how people’s perceived relationship with their environment evolves over time, revealing the “slippages” between peace and conflict—and what it means empirically for people to perceive whether "peace" is being achieved or not. While some interventions enabled recovery and local capacity-building, others reproduced exclusion, land concentration, and new forms of dispossession. Chapter four focuses on rural women’s changing roles in environmental management, highlighting their growing leadership and participation, while also addressing persistent inequalities—such as machismo, limited land access, and ongoing violence—that shape their capabilities and constrain peacebuilding outcomes. Together, these findings challenge EPB scholarship by demonstrating how peacebuilding interventions support peace and sustain conflict. The thesis provides an empirical example of the conflict cycle within EPB processes.
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