Project Details
Description
Indigenous peoples in Colombia are caught in the midst of an armed conflict that has lasted for more than fifty years. Despite an elaborate protection architecture, the state has so far been unable to effectively protect them. Hence, in order to survive, indigenous communities have had to devise their own self-protection strategies. Not only do these strategies encompass the physical and psychosocial dimension of security, but they also draw on ancestral spiritual and cultural practices that both strengthen the indigenous communities’ physical protection and reaffirm their self-determination. However, these practices are often misunderstood by the state structures, which fail to implement support strategies to support them.
This project seeks to understand how ancestral spiritual and cultural practices protect indigenous communities in the midst of armed conflict and what coordination mechanisms could be put in place to ensure that these practices are effectively supported by the state.
The project seeks to generate a conceptual and visual representation of these practices through a collaborative visual ethnographic study of the Nasa people of the Resguardo Indígena de Huellas Caloto, an indigenous community situated in the North of the Cauca Department in one of the areas worst affected by the armed conflict.
This project seeks to understand how ancestral spiritual and cultural practices protect indigenous communities in the midst of armed conflict and what coordination mechanisms could be put in place to ensure that these practices are effectively supported by the state.
The project seeks to generate a conceptual and visual representation of these practices through a collaborative visual ethnographic study of the Nasa people of the Resguardo Indígena de Huellas Caloto, an indigenous community situated in the North of the Cauca Department in one of the areas worst affected by the armed conflict.
Key findings
The key research findings can be summarised in the following points:
1) The Nasa indigenous people understand protection holistically. Spirituality and ancestral cultural practices are key to understanding protection because they relate to their cosmovision and stem from a culturally specific understanding of risk and harm.
2) The performance of protection rituals according to the spirituality and cultural practices of the Nasa people reaffirms and reinforces their self-determination and contributes to their survival (pervivencia) as a people.
3) The exercise of protection rituals represents a form of psycho-social and emotional self-care in the midst of the Colombian armed conflict.
4) Spirituality – and specifically the performance of rituals – signals belonging to and generates acceptance by the Nasa community. It promotes cohesion within the community. State protection officers who refuse to participate in rituals generate mistrust within the community and around the beneficiaries of state protection schemes.
5) The recruitment base of armed groups or criminal gangs operating locally include indigenous (Nasa) peoples. Spiritual leaders – such as traditional medics and elders – command respect within the Nasa community but also among indigenous recruits of the armed groups. This partially explains both why key Nasa figures are targeted by armed groups and the negotiating power of Nasa traditional authorities.
6) The state protection architecture is underpinned by an elaborate regulatory framework, which if applied comprehensively would accommodate ancestral forms of protection. However, in practice, the design and implementation of protection schemes – even those that are meant to strengthen indigenous forms of unarmed protection – fail to meaningfully include the Nasa people.
7) In order to better support self-protection practices rooted in the Nasa spirituality and culture and to provide culturally adequate protection schemes, Colombian authorities should ensure the active participation of Nasa communities in the design and delivery of protection.
1) The Nasa indigenous people understand protection holistically. Spirituality and ancestral cultural practices are key to understanding protection because they relate to their cosmovision and stem from a culturally specific understanding of risk and harm.
2) The performance of protection rituals according to the spirituality and cultural practices of the Nasa people reaffirms and reinforces their self-determination and contributes to their survival (pervivencia) as a people.
3) The exercise of protection rituals represents a form of psycho-social and emotional self-care in the midst of the Colombian armed conflict.
4) Spirituality – and specifically the performance of rituals – signals belonging to and generates acceptance by the Nasa community. It promotes cohesion within the community. State protection officers who refuse to participate in rituals generate mistrust within the community and around the beneficiaries of state protection schemes.
5) The recruitment base of armed groups or criminal gangs operating locally include indigenous (Nasa) peoples. Spiritual leaders – such as traditional medics and elders – command respect within the Nasa community but also among indigenous recruits of the armed groups. This partially explains both why key Nasa figures are targeted by armed groups and the negotiating power of Nasa traditional authorities.
6) The state protection architecture is underpinned by an elaborate regulatory framework, which if applied comprehensively would accommodate ancestral forms of protection. However, in practice, the design and implementation of protection schemes – even those that are meant to strengthen indigenous forms of unarmed protection – fail to meaningfully include the Nasa people.
7) In order to better support self-protection practices rooted in the Nasa spirituality and culture and to provide culturally adequate protection schemes, Colombian authorities should ensure the active participation of Nasa communities in the design and delivery of protection.
| Short title | Ritualising Protection Project |
|---|---|
| Acronym | RPP |
| Status | Finished |
| Effective start/end date | 1/10/22 → 31/12/23 |
Funding
- AHRC: £64,436.86