The Laden River: Ignacio Piedrahita’s Geological Stories of the Magdalena River
Abstract
The Magdalena River, considered the backbone of Colombia, carries a multitude of material stories through its waters. Ignacio Piedrahita’s work, particularly in his travel diary Grávido río (2019) and the essay La verdad de los ríos (2020), emphasizes the Magdalena not only as a geological agent that shapes the Earth’s surface through erosion and sediment deposition, but also as a product of human intervention. This perspective not only revalues the river as an active force in Colombia’s reality – its agency and interconnectedness –, but also suggests, as Piedrahita does, the importance of the stories that the Magdalena tell us in the post-peace agreement context. In this regard, the river geological stories become a key element in reimagining social and environmental relations in Colombia.
Presentato: 19 Novembre 2024 | Accettato: 05 Dicembre 2024 | Pubblicato 09 Maggio 2025 | Lingua: en
Keywords Geological Writing • Ignacio Piedrahita • Grávido Río • Non-human agency • Ecocriticism • Magdalena River • Blue Humanities
Copyright © 2025 Santiago Alarcón-Tobón. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-906-1/003