Poder y neorruralidad: la experiencia de construcción de una red de faros agroecológicos

·1 hr 1 min·4 clips

Sergio Monroy explains why urban Colombians are voluntarily migrating to rural areas, redefining what it means to live in the countryside.

1. Las Voces del Libro interviews Sergio Antonio Monroy Izaza about his co-authored article 'Poder y Neoruralidad' in the Universidad del Rosario journal Territorios, issue 53. 2. Monroy Izaza is a professor at Universidad Nacional de Colombia and doctoral candidate in Political Studies and International Relations; the article was co-written by a research team from two groups: Socioeconomía, Instituciones y Desarrollo and Política y Territorio. 3. The episode's central question is what neoruralidad is, how agroecological lighthouses function in practice, and what tensions they generate with conventional agriculture in Cundinamarca. 4. Neoruralidad is defined as voluntary migration by historically urban people to rural settings; Monroy Izaza distinguishes recreational relocation (condominiums, holiday homes), environmental conservation migration, and full integration into rural agricultural economies as the three main types. 5. The agroecological integration subtype, which the article focuses on, is motivated by distrust of industrial capitalism's unfulfilled promises — job security, social mobility, clean air — particularly for middle and lower-middle class urban residents in Latin America. 6. In Europe, particularly France, Italy, and Spain, similar rural re-migration has occurred since the 1980s, with some municipalities paying financial incentives to attract returnees to depopulated villages due to ageing agricultural workforces. 7. Latin American neoruralidad differs from the 1960s North American/European counterculture movement (hippie movement, post-May 1968) because it is shaped by 1990s social mobilization: the Zapatista uprising, indigenous protests in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, and the strengthening of Colombia's CRIC indigenous council. 8. Agroecology is described as a sociotechnical and socioecological phenomenon with three dimensions: a farming method that imitates forest dynamics, a political movement (the Colombian Agroecological Movement exists), and a framework for restructuring food systems. 9. The 'faro agroecológico' concept derives from horizontal extension methodology ('extensionismo horizontal') developed during Nicaragua's Sandinista revolution, contrasted with the top-down Green Revolution approach in which agronomists prescribe techniques to farmers. 10. In practice, faros agroecológicos operate through 'giras' — guided farm visits in which farmers transitioning to agroecology tour farms already implementing it successfully in Cundinamarca's eastern province. 11. The research is based in three municipalities — Choachí, Fómeque, and Ubaque — with the vereda El Ato in Choachí as the initial site, because two members of the research team relocated there from Bogotá. 12. The team created a community newspaper called El Siriri, named after an emblematic local bird, as a monthly self-managed publication reporting local events and later documenting socioecological transformations in the region. 13. Monroy Izaza identifies the loss of 'racionalidad ambiental' — ecological rationality — as a central problem: farmers specializing in single commodities like tomatoes or flowers have abandoned household food production and now buy food from cities, weakening páramo protection in the process. 14. The Cruz Verde and Sumapaz páramos are identified as at risk from livestock-driven land-use change ('praderización') in the region, which threatens the water regulation function of both páramos. 15. The first encounter between urban researchers and rural farming communities in Choachí is characterized as 'estereotipado de lado y lado' — mutually stereotyped — with Argentine researcher Verónica Trimano's typology of neo-rural encounters cited as the theoretical framework. 16. After 8 years in the territory, the research team has achieved the status of 'vecinos' (neighbors) with parts of the community and deep friendships with others, while some community members remain permanently skeptical. 17. The transformation sought is explicitly cultural rather than merely technological: Monroy Izaza argues that replacing one technology with another is insufficient; food system change requires new subjectivities built over the long duration. 18. The episode is conversational and academic in register, with host Laura Álvarez asking follow-up questions and panelists Diego Garzón and Luna Girón contributing brief interjections; the guest carries most of the content. 19. Listeners in political ecology, rural sociology, Latin American studies, or sustainable agriculture policy will find this episode substantively rich. 20. Listeners seeking practical farming guides or content outside academic social science frameworks will find the level of abstraction challenging.

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