Productive practices of the panela agroindustry. Rescue of lexical traditions in northeastern Colombia during the 20th century

Abstract

The cultivation of sugarcane and the production of panela have been representative activities of the agroindustrial economy in the eastern Colombian mountain range. In the suburban area of ​​Piedecuesta (Colombia), this activity is declining towards extinction, which is imperative to rescue its cultural memory. This article describes the lexical traditions of panela’s production process and its culture in the northeastern Andes of Colombia, during the 20th century, through the lexical recovery of the panela process from the colony. The methodology corresponds to a qualitative study, based on the organization and historical interpretation of the lexicon associated with the production of panela. For this, historical sources from the 17th to the 20th centuries were compared, interviews with sugar millers were analyzed and the expressions were organized in tables. In conclusion, the lexical diversity used to refer to productive practices and techniques in the production of sugar cane derivatives is descrites.