Imagen de región y procesos de construcción de ciudad en el Pacífico colombiano: los casos de Buenaventura y Tumaco

Abstract

As it is the case with other regions of the country, the region of the Colombian
Pacific has constituted itself by a convergence of complex social dynamics. Elements from the articulation with different international processes to those from various local fragmentations have all contributed to the emergence of a particular image of this region. Such images are, in fact, the result of processes that combine several perspectives, elaborated by both insiders and outsiders along a period of almost two centuries. Although not exhaustive, this paper presents some of these images; they constitute a general framework resulting form the convergence of various discourses generated in historically different contexts. These discourses are not necessarily exclusory, but complementary and interdependent. They also account in some way for the development and happenstances of this important region of the country.