DEINDIGENIZATION AND REINDIGENIZATION IN THE COLOMBIAN ANDES: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE INDIGENOUS IDENTITY IN GUALMATÁN FROM THE STRUGGLE FOR THE RECOVERY OF THE RESGUARDO

DESINDIGENIZATION AND REINDIGENIZATION IN THE COLOMBIAN ANDES: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE INDIGENOUS IDENTITY IN GUALMATÁN FROM THE STRUGGLE FOR THE RECOVERY OF THE RESGUARDO

Abstract

The racialized social structure of Latin America lasted as the main instrument of domination after the independence processes carried out in the 19th century; This allowed the mestizaje project to be consolidated through disindigenization. However, in the 1970s the first reindigenization efforts emerged in Colombia, when the nascent indigenous movement promoted the struggle for the recovery of lands in the hands of landowners. Later, the approval of constitutional and legislative measures would make it possible for some populations to begin a process of reaffirming their indigenous identities. Thus, based on an ethnographic fieldwork, this article presents the process of reconstruction of indigenous identity in a municipality located in the Andes of Colombia: Gualmatán. Through this research it was possible to show that the reconstruction of the indigenous identity has allowed the recognition and externalization of an indigenous part of the population that was manifest in certain cultural and economic practices, which, in addition, is related to the struggle for the recovery of the resguardo.