Alejandro Camargo

How does the inclusion of sediment affect our understanding of human-earth relationships in anthropology and the social sciences? Sedimented stories presents an examination of how the sediment that travels through fluvial environments intertwines with, and often disrupts, social life. I focus on the the La Mojana inland delta of Northern Colombia, a new frontier of climate adaptation programs, where the increasing accumulation of sediment and river bank erosion constantly transforms rivers and disrupts the economic, material, and social foundations of rural life, while at the same time enriches agricultural soils. Data from semi-structured interviews, observation, collaborative hydrographies, and documentary sources will be collected to identify what knowledges and practices riverine people mobilize to make sense of and to interact with disruptive sediment dynamics, and how these interactions and meanings shape their aspirations in the face of climate uncertainty; Determine the ways in which ownership and belonging materialize on an unstable and even ephemeral ground affected by sediment accretion and erosion; and explain why and how the everyday risks and uncertainties involved in dwelling on a sedimented landscape become naturalized and overlooked in technical and scientific discourses about adaptation to climate change in La Mojana.