Between May and August 2026, PhD student Akash Kar carried out pre-dissertation research in Colombia with support from a MITACS Globalink internship, hosted by the Universidad del Valle in Cali under his host supervisor Dr. Renata Moreno Quintero. His project examines processes of territorialization among Black and campesino agrarian communities in the Alto Cauca and in Santander. Ten days of travel in Santander and Bogotá brought him into conversation with rural farmers whose accounts clarified local dynamics of agroecology and social organization.
In Bogotá he also attended a meeting of the Mesa de Energías Comunitarias, which works with peasant organizations and government entities to promote decentralized energy and a just energy transition. Working alongside the wider research team and in regular communication with his home supervisor, Dr. Diana Córdoba, Akash also strengthened the Spanish language skills that his fieldwork will demand.