Pensar maritorios, mares cimarrones y comunitarios más allá de la delimitación geográfica: una provocación

In Colombia, the development of the concept of maritorio (sea-territory) ties into the organization and political processes of Community Councils of Black People in the Caribbean Sea. Maritorio extends the territory beyond the shore and looks afterthe state recognition of preferentialrights overthe use of places that the state cannot currently grant as collective territories under Law 70 of 1993. A legal project defines maroon and community seas as a stripe of eight nautical miles from shore to offshore in the Pacific and Caribbean. This project has been challenged over its foundations. Although, I acknowledge thatthe geographical delimitation of an area of preferential use might benefit various communities, I propose to advance a conceptualization of maritorio as a relation and not only a geographical location.