Women, Land and Food:

Food Security from the Role of Kamëntšá Women

Abstract

Objetive: To present a reflection on the role played by indigenous women and the cultural aspects of community food security, specifically, from the experiences of the Kamëntšá mamitas. Methodology: The methodology used to develop the research from which this article is derived is ethnographic.
Participant observation was carried out for three months living with eight Kamëntšá mamitas in their ancestral territory, the Sibundoy Valley in Putumayo, Colombia. Other research techniques were also employed, such as ethnographic interviewing,
recording of formal and informal conversations, and secondary source review. Results: The relationship between the activities, practices, and knowledge of some Kamëntšá women with the land was identified, specifically, with the care and
cultivation of the chagras or jajañ. Based on this relationship, it became clear thatto achieve food security, it is necessary to consider the symbolic aspects that these women attribute to food plants such as maize, the classification they make of food,
the search to maintain good health and, therefore, the importance of their role in food policies. Conclusions: To achieve food security, it is necessary to recognize community dynamics in relation to land, traditional subsistence production systems, culturally attributed meanings of food and the  role of women. This, understanding
that it is not only developed in the search for the reproduction of the group, but also the productive, public, and health systems.