Abstract
This chapter presents a case study of the development and adoption of alternative energies (mainly solar and wind energy) by Indigenous Wayúu communities living in the La Guajira department in Colombia. From the perspective of Learning Communities (Lleras, Las comunidades de aprendizaje como ámbitos de construcción de mundo. In Manual de Iniciación Pedagógica al Pensamiento Complejo, 2003), this project was developed using a critical systemic approach. This methodology accounts for patterns of communication and interaction in a context of domination and its effects, and proposes the reconfiguration of these relationships through participatory design, based on the construction of vital meanings based on the Wayúu worldview. The process included two years of dialogic work (Bakhtin, Mikhail. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Esasys. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981) with the community as well as the use of spaces for open communication and citizen participation. Three relevant actors participated in the project: a private energy company (ISAGEN), research members of the Faculty of Engineering from the Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), and the Indigenous Wayúu community. The project demonstrates community empowerment through a proposal for sustainable energy, designed through this process of cultural recognition.
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Notes
- 1.
Editor’s translation for the Spanish word “palabrero”.
- 2.
Gutierrez, Jimenez. 2017.Project Report. Bogotá: Colombia.
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Acknowledgments
We thank ISAGEN, the Wayúu community (Pepetshi), and the research members of the Faculty of Engineering at Los Andes University that made possible the realization of this project. We would especially like to thank Pepetshi and its openness to creating spaces for mutual understanding and dialogue. A learning community was consolidated thanks to all its members, their confidence in the process, and willingness to dream.
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Jiménez Becerra, J.A., Bustamante Salamanca, M., Gutiérrez Pérez, Á. (2020). Challenging Asymmetries of Power and Knowledge Through Learning Communities and Participatory Design in the Creation of Smart Grids in Wayúu Communities. In: Martens, C., Venegas, C., Sharupi Tapuy, E.F.S. (eds) Digital Activism, Community Media, and Sustainable Communication in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45394-7_14
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