“Prefiriendo siempre á los agrimensores científicos”. Discriminación en la medición y el reparto de resguardos indígenas en el altiplano cundiboyacense, 1821-1854

Abstract

This article examines the process of privatization of indigenous reservations in New Granada and argues that the process was mired in conflict. The article demonstrates how ethnic and gender discrimination sparked conflict as attempts were made to privatize indigenous reservations. The focus of the struggles for control over the privatization process was the surveyor: he who had the power to name the surveyor could -in large part- control how the privatized land parcels would be distributed. By naming surveyors trained in the national Military School, the governors in Bogotá consolidated their political power over privatization, legitimated a process that fomented ethnic and gender discrimination, and promoted the reputations of surveyors trained in the Military School as neutral, dependable experts, despite the mistakes these surveyors also committed.