Rural Women through Care, Tourism, and Territorial Resilience: The Case of the Asociación de Mujeres Campesinas Siemprevivas in Medellín, Colombia

Abstract

This article aims to identify the role and impact of rural women as rights-bearing subjects through their political practices centered on care, tourism, and territorial resilience. Specifically, it examines the experience of the Asociación de Mujeres Campesinas SiempreVivas (AMCS), located in the village of San José de la Montaña in the San Cristóbal district, the rural area of Medellín, Colombia. The methodological approach is qualitative, designed to highlight the appropriation of peasant practices through the narratives of rural women regarding their organizational processes. From an interpretive paradigm, the study focuses on recognizing the ways in which rural women develop tourism practices grounded in care and territorial resilience. The research combined documentary review of secondary sources with focus groups conducted among members of the AMCS to identify their territorial practices and interpret them through their own narratives. Triangulation of information was carried out to connect concepts and reflect on their ways and means of life. The findings suggest that while rural women have traditionally played a crucial role in care within the private sphere, their contributions to the economy and ethics now embody elements of rights and gender equality that promote emancipatory action and rural development. Moreover, rural women have made significant contributions to the territory not only through caregiving and child-rearing within the home but also through agricultural labor, protection, and the defense of peasant life and rural territory as social and political matters. Through this work, they have articulated the distinctiveness of peasant life and advanced women’s and families’ economic autonomy.