Reweaving the Uaman Luar: Cultural Reproduction and Autonomy among the Kamëntšá
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Date
2023
Authors
Glass, Rowan
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Where there is colonial power, there is Indigenous resistance. Latin America offers many case studies for an analysis of Indigenous cultural survival, historically and to the present day. While some have received considerable popular and academic attention, most have gone comparatively unknown, particularly in the Anglophone academic mainstream. My research aims to address this gap by interpreting processes of cultural reproduction among the Kamëntšá, a culturally and linguistically unique people of the Sibundoy Valley of southwest Colombia. Building on ethnographic data collected during three months of fieldwork with artisans, shamans, land defenders, and community members in the Sibundoy Valley, I argue that the Kamëntšá, while facing cultural, political, and ecological threats on multiple fronts, are engaged in the integral reproduction of their culture to ensure the survival and vitality of their community. The Kamëntšá experience demonstrates the viability of Indigenous cultural survival and autonomy outside of the settler-colonial and neoliberal status quo. I conclude by arguing that Kamëntšá processes of cultural reproduction contribute to ensuring their cultural autonomy, demonstrating the pluriversal dictum that “another world is possible,” and that the Kamëntšá case sheds light on cultural reproduction and autonomy construction as they operate in other subaltern contexts.
Description
62 pages