Re-Existing Peoples: Armed Conflict And Construction Of Indigenous Autonomy In Tierradentro, Colombia (1994-2016)

Abstract

In this paper I analyze the practices of resistance to political violence in Tierradentro subregion, southwestern Colombia. I argue that the nasa indigenous people, organized in the Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca, resisted more effectively than other subaltern groups, thanks to the construction of a policy of re-existence. The nasa re-existence constitutes a project of autonomy that seeks to restore indigenous agency in the definition of norms and modes of relationship with human and non-human beings who live together in the territory. Such a project implies the adoption of a position of autonomy in relation with all the armed actors. But the negotiation needed for the re- is unfolding, at the same time, between the nasa people and the spiritual entities that take an active role in the defense of the territory. To develop the analysis, I combine elements of historical sociology, anthropology and political ontology.