Extractivism and alternative media: Framing coal and energy transitions in Northern Colombia

Citation

Velez Serna MA (2023) Extractivism and alternative media: Framing coal and energy transitions in Northern Colombia. Mediatico [Blog post] 05.06.2023. https://reframe.sussex.ac.uk/mediatico/2023/06/05/extractivism-and-alternative-media-framing-coal-and-energy-transitions-in-northern-colombia/

Abstract
First Paragraph: From the heroic black-and-white of the coal-miner’s face, to the gleaming sweep of wind turbines, moving images mediate energy transitions and take part in socio-environmental conflicts. I’ve been researching sponsored film and video in relation to coal mining in Colombia. My focus was archival to begin with, but this is an ongoing story; coal continues to be dug out and exported while windfarms are built around it. Communities continue to be displaced by mining, while the new ‘clean energy’ projects bring along their own patterns of colonial dispossession. In these contexts, what has been, what is, what could be the role of film and video? In January 2023, I convened an online panel of experts to choose and discuss a handful of videos that shed light on the current situation from different perspectives. The guests were film student and organiser Génesis Gutiérrez; filmmaker and curator David Hernández Palmar; ecological economist Andrea Cardoso, and historian Avi Chomsky. This article incorporates some of their thoughts as well as those of other participants, and reflects on that discussion and the films we shared.