Making a living out of the imaginaries of sea: restaurants and stereotypes on the Pacific region in the city of Bogotá

Vivir de los imaginarios del mar: restaurantes y estereotipos sobre el Pacífico en Bogotá

Restaurants serving food from the Pacific region in the capital city of Bogotá have become an inescapable reference when it comes to reflect on black people4 dynamics in this city. However, they have often been minimized and seen under the light of a few spots located in specific sites, and holding akin trajectories, which has resulted in generalizing the phenomenon of their recent thriving, and concealing the complexity of histories behind each of them. Face to the wide and growing emergence of these spots throughout the city, and based on fieldwork experiences, I aim to challenge some representations pervading both in scholar imaginaries and people who play the part of their clientele. My central argument is that these restaurants are not a result of an attained/gained social order, as it has been often stated, but they are rather reproducing a stereotyped social order that fixes difference while shaping and visibilizing a particular view of the Pacific region.