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Between Sovereignty and Culture: Who is an Indigenous Intellectual in Colombia?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2004

Joanne Rappaport
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Abstract

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Recent studies of Latin American indigenous intellectuals affiliated with social movements demonstrate that, while the hold that national intellectuals have as mediators between the state and civil society may be precarious, intellectuals from subordinated minorities are intermediaries between the national society and minority groups, successfully articulating ethnic strivings within national arenas and building ethnic discourses in local communities. But in order to comprehend the success of indigenous intellectuals, it is necessary to inquire into how their discourse is developed internally. To achieve this, we must pay close attention to the heterogeneity of the indigenous movement, in which an array of different types of intellectuals interact and debate issues in a range of ethnic organizations. This article explores the complexities of the negotiation of ethnic discourse by intellectuals within the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, a Colombian indigenous organization, focusing on a conflict in which indigenous cultural activists and politicians are at loggerheads over the nature of indigenous political autonomy.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 49 , Issue S12 , December 2004 , pp. 111 - 132
Copyright
2004 Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis

Footnotes

The research upon which this article is based was conducted from 1995 to 2002 in Cauca, Colombia, thanks to the support of an international collaborative grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, as well as support from the Graduate School of Georgetown University. My research was conducted within an international collaborative team composed of Colombian academics (Myriam Amparo Espinosa and Tulio Rojas Curieux of the Universidad del Cauca); foreign scholars (David D. Gow of George Washington University, and myself); and indigenous intellectuals (Adonías Perdomo Dizú of the Resguardo Indígena de Pitayó and Susana Piñacué Achicué of the Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca (CRIC)), who came together to engage in a dialogue focused on our distinct theoretical orientations, methodological approaches, and political commitments. I am indebted to the other members of the team for their acute insights into Caucan ethnic politics and their commentaries on my own work. I also entered into a close collaboration with members of the bilingual education program of CRIC, and owe a great debt to Graciela Bolaños, Abelardo Ramos, and Inocencio Ramos, for their astute observations and critiques, as well as for their immense hospitality. This article is drawn from a longer book manuscript, Intercultural Utopias, written while I held a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship at the National Humanities Center during the 2002–2003 academic year. I thank Michiel Baud and Rosanne Rutten for their very helpful suggestions, which have made this article more persuasive.