Climate displacement & planned relocations
For over a decade I have accompanied the planned relocation process of the Guna indigenous community of Gardi Sugdub, in Panama, and the municipality of Gramalote, in Colombia. This work has been done in collaboration with my colleague Anthony Oliver-Smith and combines research, outreach, advocacy and advising.
Guna people’s history
My work on the relocation of Guna indigenous communities in Panama made me realize that one important way to counter the cultural risks that the Guna people are facing, as they relocate from their islands to the mainland, was through a deeper understanding of their extremely rich and eventful history. As a result, I have been conducting archival research of the documented history of the Guna people. So far I have published a book, “Vivir en Libertad! Historia documentada del pueblo Guna, 1501-1728,“ and two additional papers on this topic. Currently, I am working on a follow-up manuscript that covers the history of the Guna people from 1729-1821.
Women’s empowerment in Nicaragua
For twelve years I worked as the Executive Director of WCCN, a non-profit organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. During my tenure at WCCN, I had the fortune to know Xochilt-Acalt, a remarkable women’s organization in the rural town of Malpaisillo, Nicaragua, which developed the most impressive women’s empowerment projects I have ever seen. I had the opportunity to collaborate with my colleague Shelly Grabe, psychology professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz, to conduct research at Malpaisillo on women’s land ownership as a way to overcome domestic violence.
The struggle of the U’wa people of Colombia
After moving from Colombia to Madison, Wisconsin, I had the privilege to collaborate with the great sociologist of the law Boaventura de Sousa Santos on some of his research projects. When he first asked me if I could update the information for a paper someone else had written about the U’wa’s opposition to oil drilling, I never imagined it would be the beginning of a long-term involvement in that case under the umbrella of Boaventura’s project “Reinventing Social Emancipation.” That project also allowed me the opportunity to write and publish a paper on the U’wa case with my colleague César Rodríguez-Garavito, entitled “Indigenous Rights, Transnational Activism, and Legal Mobilization: The Struggle of the U’wa People in Colombia.”
Photos of the new municipality of Gramalote, Colombia
Photo by Fondo Adaptación.
Housing rights in Nicaragua
During my time as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua (WCCN) I had the opportunity to partner with the international non-profit Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and the Nicaraguan Center on Human Rights (CENIDH) to conduct a study on housing rights in Nicaragua. This mission report opened the door to participate in a regional project with the United Nations Habitat Program (UN-Habitat) on land, gender an housing issues in Nicaragua.
Change-oriented legal services in Latin America and the U.S.
I started my professional career in Colombia as researcher at a non-governmental organization called Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios Legales Alternativos, ILSA, that promoted a regional network of legal services for the poor in Latin America. Coming full circle, from 2017 to 2022, I had the opportunity to work as Grants Program Manager for the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation (WisTAF), channeling funding to civil legal services in the state of Wisconsin.
Carlos Arenas 