Abstract

ARISTIZABAL, Juanita C. Mythologies of Gold in Chocó. Tabula Rasa [online]. 2022, n.43, pp.297-322.  Epub May 22, 2022. ISSN 1794-2489.

“Mythologies of Gold in Chocó,” explores the ways in which the cultural production of and on this Colombian region reflects on the role of gold as a material and symbolic substance with a strong impact in the region’s racial, social, and environmental make-up. Through a reading of a collection of narratives where gold appears as a commodity embedded in the lives, paths, and destinies of those who tread the jungle, rivers, and cities of Chocó, it reflects upon representations in oral storytelling, literature, journalism, and film of the exuberance and perturbation that this metal has caused and continues to cause in this region. The text argues that the transmission of stories about gold in a place where people have been doomed to fulfill the demands of an extractive economy contributes to a long history of constructing this region as a “virtual space” in the national imaginary.

Keywords : Mining; extractive economies; gold; Colombia; literature; film; non-fiction.

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