Yingjie Fei

Emerald and Violence in Colombia’s Green Frontier 

In Colombia, natural resources have offered an easy source of funding for various armed groups. Colombian emeralds were no exception and Western Boyacá with its rich reserves of this gemstone attracted ambitious but ruthless men since Colombia entered the global emerald market in the 1950s.

Until today, Western Boyacá is known for high levels of criminalization and chronic violence that revolves around the emerald industry and the continuous clashes between territorially defined regional clans whose roots were in the desire to control the emerald mines. This peculiar image of Western Boyacá has made many Colombians view it as a land of and for criminals who seek easy money regardless of the costs; a place dominated by powerful family clans engaged in violent conflicts all in a general context of impunity, where justice resides in private hands if it exists at all.

This project investigates the influence of emerald as a commodity in shaping the regional conflicts in Colombia and situates the illegality of Western Boyacá in its frontierized and marginalized position in relation to colonial and modern state structures.

Q&A

Fellowship Cohort: Fall 2022

Why did you choose this project?
My research interest. 

How was this fellowship meaningful or impactful to you?
It facilitated my archival research in Colombia.

What future plans do you have related to this work, if any?
I would love to continue working on this topic in my dissertation, if possible.

Yingjie Fei is a Ph.D. student in Literatures in Spanish in the Department of Literature. Her digital humanities project focuses on memories and narratives of conflict and violence in the mining industry in Colombia. She uses ethnographical media method as an intervention in Colombia’s cultural expressions to constitute a space where survivors tell their stories of the past and present.