Black Struggles to Live Savor-fully in the Colombian Pacífico: A Chat with Harrinson Cuero Campaz, Ph.D.
“People used to say well being… Vivir sabroso, however, is really enjoying life. You create a strong relationship with the Earth and use resources without damage… So vivir sabroso means to really make good relationships with other species”
-Harrinson Cuero Campaz, Ph.D.
Harrinson Cuero Campaz, Ph.D., teaches about Black and Afro-Colombian everyday life practices and ways of knowing. They are based on taking care of the land and of the future generations in the Colombian Pacific Region, known in the country as the Pacífico Colombiano. The Pacific Coast of Colombia is a multiethnic and pluricultural Black and Indigenous ancestral territory-region, meaning that diverse Black and Indigenous peoples have inhabited and protected these lands from time immemorial; they continue to do so until this day.
On May 8th, 2022, the Youth Visionary Collective (YVC) had the honor of learning from Harrinson, a Black Scholar-activist from Colombia. He has dedicated his studies and his life to the place and people he calls home and loves: El Pacífico. This past summer Harrinson defended his Ph.D. dissertation with flying colors about Black-community territorial planning based in self-determination. He earned his Ph.D. in Sustainability at the Polytechnic University of Catalunya. Felicitaciones Harrinson! 😊
In the quote above, Harrinson talks about what vivir sabroso means. Vivir sabroso, which is translated to living savor-fully in English, means a range of things: creating harmonious relations to ancestral lands, having access to food sovereignty and traditional foods, and living without fear and in peace. Keep reading to find out more about how living savor-fully came about and the implications it has for respecting ancestral Black communities' right to be Black!
Cuero told the YVC about Afro-Colombian visions of living savor-fully, principles that inform ancestral Black ethnic territories. Four principles that inspire the Black Lives Matter movement outside the borders of North America—i.e. Vivir Sabroso—and along the Pacific Coast of Colombia. They are as follows:
To Be Black: “Conserve our ideas of what vivir sabroso and cultural life practices mean,” and, “to be Black is to speak as we speak.”
Ancestral Black Territories: “To be Black we need our territory.”
Self-Determination: “We need to have the ability to decide what we want.”
Solidarity: “We need to fight together.”
Afro-Colombians have protected the Chocó rainforests of the Colombian Pacific Ancestral Territory-region for hundreds of years and today are defending their rights to be Black, to territory, to self-determination, and to solidarity. Thus, talking with Harrinson left the YVC with questions: How do we identify? And, what are we so passionate about that we would actually risk our lives? Have you ever thought about these questions? Would you risk your life for what you believe or who you love?
This quote from Radio Vivir Sabroso emphasizes how vivir sabroso is a whole way of life related to living peacefully and access to ancestral foods.
The Black Communities Process (PCN), of which Harrinson has served as a leader since he was an adolescent, is a national organization with a strong presence in all regions where Black communities reside:
“We are a Black organizational dynamic that articulates more than 140 grassroots organizations, community councils and individuals, who work constantly in the transformation of the political, social, economic and territorial reality of black, Afro-descendant, Raízal and Palenquero communities, through the defense and vindication of their individual, collective and ancestral rights.” (https://renacientes.net/quienes-somos/)
PCN was founded in 1993 and taught Harrinson a great deal. PCN is a network of communities and organizations from the Pacific, the Caribbean, and the central departments of Colombia that work to strengthen Afro-Colombian cultural identities, promote environmental sustainability, advocate for rights in Black communities, and defend the territories to which they belong.
PCN solutes the tribunal of the peoples: all Black and Indigenous communities for their struggles, for their rights to dignity, and against the on-going genocide in the Pacific. The network offers its resistance, “defending the right to be”, and “defending dignity”.
PCN calls for the Colombian state to acknowledge its historical wrongdoings and repair the damage to Black communities and territories. They demand justice, equality, and the right to live savor-fully in their communities. They continue their fight, but remain in conflict due to violent historical and social trajectories of the state abandonment, treat the people as disposable, and subject nature to pillage. PCN calls upon their ancestors for strength to re-exist stronger than ever. Through song and ritual in this video, you can see and hear for yourself what vivir sabroso means to the PCN.
Video Caption: This video was made by the PCN (2020). UCSC Environmental Students students helped by translating the song into English subtitles during a class taught by Roots & Routes (R&R's) Executive Director.
In a recent Instagram post, Harrinson conveyed his view on the region:
““Mi gran amor, el pacífico colombiano. Todo por este territorio y por asegurar que siga siendo negro, biodiverso y bonito. Es decir, que se pueda!” [“My great love, the Colombian Pacific. I’ll do anything for this territory, to assure that it continues being Black, biodiverse, and beautiful. All that to say, “Yes, we can!”]”
When Harrinson introduced us to the way of life that is vivir sabroso, he explained that it means to enjoy life by respecting pluricultural (i.e. diverse cultural) approaches to self-determination in territory and strengthening relationships with other species. The holistic understanding of vivir sabroso that he shared with us in the following video inspired us—the youth at the YVC—to further reflect on what living savor-fully meant to each us.
Cuero met with the YVC one month before the Colombian election day, June 19th, 2022, when Francia Marquez ran for Vice President of the country. Marquez is a Black woman born into Chocó rainforest communities that are treated as disposable. They lay at the margins of Colombian society, as people suffer a lack of access to education and health services. Even still, they live savor-fully in the rich diversity that the rivers and rainforests offer to them.
Despite setbacks, Francia has made her way onto the political stage as Gustavo Petro’s running mate. Vivir sabroso was Francia’s rallying cry in her campaign for systematic change in Colombia. As the quote below indicates, for her vivir sabroso means to live without fear, to live with dignity, and to live with a guarantee of rights (País, 2022).
The YVC Social Media team crafted this Instagram post about our meeting with Harrinson Cuero Campaz. Check them out here: @rootsroutesic! Francia Marquez’s Vice Presidential campaign put forward living savor-fully not only to the people of the Pacific, but all of Colombia.
Great news! A hopeful change of power took place in Colombia on election day 2022! For the first time ever in Colombian history, the leftists won. Presidential candidate Gustavo Petro and Vice President, Francia Marquez, won the presidential elections. Francia Marquez was voted in as the first-time Black and first-ever woman Vice President! They embraced vivir sabroso as the campaign slogan.
Turkewitz (2022) underscores that in a country where a person’s social class determines the extent of their future possibilities (or not), this was a landmark election and celebratory time in Colombia and the world at large. Francia was able to break and surpass the economic and racial barriers she faced. Her political platform revolves around being a voice for Black people who have long been oppressed in her country and continue to fight for peace and justice. Through learning more about living savor-fully in the Colombian Pacific, we hope that you will join us in celebrating and honoring the long-term struggles of people like Francia, of ancestral Black communities of the Pacífico, and of Black diaspora communities worldwide who strive for respect, dignity, and peace-with-justice.
Roots & Routes wants to recognize and congratulate Harrinson Cuero as well. On October 4th, 2022, he was sworn into the position of Advisor to the Minister of the Environment of Colombia. Alongside Francía, he too is one of the intellectual and activist warriors for the Black diaspora in Colombia and beyond. His has dedicated his life to defending ancestral Afro-Colombian peoples’ rights to be Black.
To be Black—to reclaim the Black identity and re-tell history from the margins—is to re-exist as Black and to live savor-fully. Doing so day in and day out is a way of life for Black communities of the Pacífico Colombiano. Taking care of and protecting the Chocó rivers/rainforests is part of who Black communities are and what they do in their day-to-day lives.
Black ways of life are threatened in the Chocó rainforest, in the Pacífico, and throughout the country by “la violencía”—geopolitical violence related to megadevelopment projects, extractive industries like oil palm plantations activities, drug trafficking, and illegal armed groups. The younger generation is a preferred target of the armed groups, as they try to recruit them to increase their numbers and stronghold across the country.
One vivir sabroso strategy being implemented to create greater safety for younger generations is teaching children who live in high-risk areas about the importance of their cultural histories and ways of life, and encouraging them to continue learning about who they are and where they are from. A local action-oriented radio community elaborates about why working with Black youth matters in Colombia:
Radio Vivir Sabroso is a station from Colombia that communicates to listeners what it means to Vivir sabroso. They advocate for a necessary positive collective change in their country for peoples’ basic rights to be met.
While the youth are “...playing, dancing, sharing, or talking,” Harrinson says, “they remember what is important for us, what territory means for us, what respect for our elders is for us. Everything is really important to take them back to us.”
He comments that while this strategy is effective, it is also dangerous because teachers have to enter red zones, or “no-go” areas, to reach the children. This work is critical because the next generation will shape the Pacífico Colombiano. R&R tips our hat off to all those, like Harrinson and his colleagues and fellow teachers and activists at PCN, who put their lives on the line for the well-being of future generations.
We are grateful to Harrinson for coming to inspire R&R interns who form part of the Youth Visionary Collective and allowing us to share his teachings with you. Harrinson gives us insights about the struggles of el Proceso de Comunidades Negras and the Afro-Colombian people to re-exist. Amidst day-to-day hardships, they offer hope for the future of Black peoples across the world. Many thanks to Harrinson and the PCN for struggling to open possibilities for living savor-fully! May we at Roots & Routes and all of you continue to find ways to support and collaborate with the PCN. In the meantime, may you be inspired to vivir sabroso!
