‘Constructoras de territorio’/ Producers of urban territories: women’s grassroots movements’ feeling/thinking knowledge of urban territories in Medellín, Colombia

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, territory has been at the centre of social movements in Latin America. This article focuses on the experiences of territory of one of the largest women’s grassroots movements in Medellín, Colombia, during the revision of the city’s masterplan, known as the Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial (or POT), in 2014. Through the POT revision, women’s grassroots movements proposed the inclusion of a gender perspective in the city masterplan. Through the examination of interviews with activists and drawing on the notion of territory as an ‘idea and practice’ in which social movements appropriate space for political projects and the notion of feminismos territoriales, which centres on the care of territory and the body, I show that women’s territorial demands are rooted in their gendered knowledge and experiences of territory. This knowledge is based on feeling/thinking (sentipensar) strategies that stem from women’s care activities and the protection of their bodies. Territory acquires political meaning as women’s grassroots movements challenge state territorial policies, such as the city masterplan, and demonstrates their role as ‘constructoras territoriales’, or producers of urban territories.