Tag: colonization

Cosmovision and Justice

Emma Ferrer on

For Bolivia, the 1990s neoliberal reforms brought privatization of resources such as water, electricity and transportation.  As neoliberalism caused growing inequality and exploitation of those resources and the people who used them, tensions surrounding privatization grew.  This culminated in two large movements: the Water Wars of 2000, and the Gas Wars of 2003. The motivation behind the movements was the indigenous people who were losing their land and cultural practices due to the extraction of resources.  In the article “Good living for whom? Bolivia’s climate justice movement and the limitations of indigenous cosmovisions,” Fabricant explains that this brought up the important question of how indigenous ways of life were supposed to be protected.
As a result of the surge in indigenous activism, Evo Morales rose to popular eye and was elected president on the platforms of revitalising Bolivia through social movements.  The election of Morales made the Bolivian left very hopeful that his indigenous perspective was going to be the ideology that saved Bolivia from a climate crisis and be an example for the world.  In practice, Morales ended up ignoring the consulta previa Fabricant argues that independent of the fact that Morales lost sight of the indigenous activism he promised, it is not possible to apply indigenous cosmovisions or societal structures to national or global platforms.  Speaking specifically of the Aymara organization of labor, the ayllu, Fabricant points out that these systems were developed in the Andes, for the Andes. The ayllu system works to keep stability within communities, ensures that no one group suffers more in a drought year or in a bad livestock year, and upholds respect for nature.  While this is a great model, it is not up to indigenous groups to educate about, and implement solutions for problems that colonialism, neoliberalism, and globalization caused.
Fabricant describes the economic and social structure of the ayllu in relationship to the exploitative extraction policies of the Bolivian government that indigenous communities throughout Bolivia were opposing in order to preserve their relationship with the land.  This structure brings up the larger theme of the indigenous cosmovisions, or worldviews, that define indigenous cultures separate from western ideology. Cosmovision is extremely important concept for the indigenous activists as they take on the burden of educating the elite and general public to further their cultural needs.  This concept is the justification for all political demands because their worldview impacts the way they move through spaces and interact with structures of power. Indigenous language, values, upbringing, and beliefs all shape a person differently than western culture.
Different communities, experiencing different cultural and political contexts, advocate for different demands based on their specific needs. During Bolivia’s climate wars, multiple groups had conflicting demands based on the differences in their communities position within the economic and social structures.  The systems of power, when negotiating with indigenous groups, are quick to try and generalize the demands of indigenous people but their cosmovisions are not the same. Decolonization can not begin without the acknowledgement that each indigenous group has a unique cosmovision that must be respected and taken into account when dismantling hegemonic institutions.

Intersectionality

haysa on

Intersectionality: Why Aren’t Indigenous Peoples of African Descent Discussed in Conversations Regarding Indigeneity?

When most think of indigenous people (especially those in Latin America), indigenous people who also have African heritage are not a part of the conversation. Specifically, in our class where we discussed a variety of different indigenous rights and issues, Afro-Indigeneity was not a topic we discussed until a few students voiced their thoughts on the lack of such content. And even then, the discussion was brief and only a limited amount of sources were provided as course materials (at no fault of the professor). While indigenous people in Latin America are a marginalized and oppressed group, the Afro-Latinx/Indigenous community is marginalized within the already marginalized group– much like how African American or Black people are oppressed and marginalized in the United States and queer Black people are marginalized within the Black community.
What Afro-Indigenous people are deprived of is their ability to be indigenous. As Avi Chomsky and Cindy Forster express in their 2006 article “Who Is Indigenous? Who Is Afro-Colombian? Who Decides?”, people who claim both African and indigenous heritage are not recognized as both African and indigenous because they are considered “peasants” and are “defined . . . as “a group of families of African descent that possesses its own culture, shares a history, and has its own traditions and customs . . . who demonstrate and conserve a consciousness of their identity that distinguishes them from other ethnic groups”. In other words, Afro-Colombian people are their own separate group/ethnicity and are thus excluded from indigenous communities. They must pick one identity over the other and many times that identity is chosen for them; fore, Afro-Indigenous people are not indigenous to many people because of their African heritage– they are Afro-whatever (whatever referring to the Latin American country in which African-descended people live/populate).
Afro-Indigenous peoples are excluded from indigenous conversations just as it is difficult for indigenous women to be a part of the same discussions. They have to prove themselves in ways that other indigenous people do not; and yet, Afro-Indigenous people are still not considered members of indigenous communities. They are not allowed to have more than one identity. They must be what their country and society dictate they are.
This is to say that not all Afro-Latinx American people are of indigenous descent and are shunned or excluded from the communities, but the fact remains that there is a lack of scholarship on Afro-Indigenous people and their inclusion in indigenous communities.
 

Works Cited

Chomsky, Avi, and Cindy Forster. “Who Is Indigenous? Who Is Afro-Colombian? Who Decides?”
Cultural Survival. December 2006. Accessed June 2019. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/who-indigenous-who-afro-colombian-who-decides.
McGrath, Elena. “The Indian Question.” Indigenous Rights in Latin America, Carleton College,
Northfield, MN, April 5, 2019
Postero, Nancy Grey, and Leon Zamosc. “Introduction: Indigenous Movements and the Indian
Question in Latin America.” In The Struggle for Indigenous Rights in Latin America, 1-31. Sussex Academic Press, 2012.

Indigeneity and Land

hernandezo on

One of the things that came to mind when reading the readings this week was what it means to be indigenous. The reason that this is something that I thought about frequently was because of what we read in Now Peru Is Mine by Manuel Mitma Llamojha and Jaymie Patricia Heilman. Llamojha explains on pages 11-12 about how he prefers to describe himself as a campesino versus calling himself Indian, Quechua, Aymara, or even indigenous. Although, the author does say, “His understanding of what it means to be a campesino is one that melds ethnic, class, and historical identities, and he is both passionate and explicit about his indigeneity.”1 It’s interesting that he chooses to use a social-economic label to describe himself. Although, it’s worth noting that he denounces the word “indian”, Llamojha says:
“Discrimination began when the Spanish took America. They categorized all the natives of the continent as ‘Indians,’ as people of another country, another world. I always felt proud when they called ‘Indian.’ When Christopher Columbus came to America, he thought that all the inhabitants of America from India. So I was proud when they said ‘Indian’ to me, because that meant I was from India.”2
This reminded me of conversations with my father who spoke to me of the remnants of indigenous lifestyle in his home pueblo of Pomoca, Michoacán. While he also shared the same sentiments about the use of the word “indio” or “indian” to describe himself as someone who comes from indigenous descent, he preferred to call himself a “campesino”, but used the two terms fairly interchangeably. His rationale for this was that as a Mexican with indigenous roots, he also resonated with the idea that being called “indian” further carried on a legacy of colonialism. While my father never explicitly said this, he felt it was wrong to call his fellow indigenous Mexican people with the incorrect name because they indeed weren’t from India, and therein lies a form of belittling and taking away from the strength and pride there is in indigeneity, and having colonizers rename and stick a name onto a people.
On a different note, the reason he strongly resonated with the word campesino was the fact that he felt that as a farmer, he saw the agricultural component, the physical labor that came with the lifestyle, and the spiritual connection to the land, as a means to fulfill the needs of his people were far more important than what demarcated him as indigenous, or “indio”, in geographic and racial terms. Just because he was darker skinned than other people in his pueblo and just because he didn’t live in the urbanized parts of Michoacan wasn’t what deemed him indigenous or being of indigenous descent. I think this proves to be a very valuable insight as to what it means to be indigenous. There’s merit in the work of cultivating land and creating a lifestyle and whole community based around that labor. It weaves together societies, fortifies relationships, gives these communities capital and a means of creating and contributing to national commerce. While most of the customs, language, and religions of that my dad said were forgotten and lost over the years, the land they owned and cultivated over generations were their claim to a past that is out of reach.
I think the thoughts that my dad had about indigeneity also find themselves expressed in the thoughts that Llamojha’s words and beliefs as well. As a result of his upbringing on an hacienda and being of indigenous descent, he also lived a life of extraneous labor and knew that the land was an integral part of indigenous people’s lives and identities. A lot of the denunciations he made were always tied to land. Whether it was unfair treatment and unjust labor conditions/hours for campesinos or the acquisition and claiming of lands that belonged to campesinos; all these are rooted in the lands that were owned by the people.
Hence, why the preservation of land, and moreover, the owning of these lands by the people that have been there for centuries, is arguably the most important component to indigenous rights. While my father himself didn’t unfairly lose lands at any point, he often points to the injustices American settlers imposed upon the Mexican people through the taking of lands above the current U.S border. So, he used that often times to describe a more universal struggle of the indigenous people we have been reading about that often had their lands unjustly taken, by coercion or by force. It brings us time and time again to the discourse over land and the claims that indigenous people have to them outside of the jurisdiction of the law that is often created thereafter only to tear indigenous people from the lands.
Works Cited
1. Mitma, Manuel Llamojha, and Jaymie Patricia Heilman. Now Peru Is Mine: The Life and times of a Campesino Activist. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016. 11-12.
2. Mitma, Manuel Llamojha, and Jaymie Patricia Heilman. Now Peru Is Mine: The Life and times of a Campesino Activist. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016. 11-12.

Performative Identity: The Effects of Spanish Colonization on Indigenous Women and Society

jfrancoportfolio on

The theme of performative identity, an exploration of the effects of Spanish colonization on the social hierarchy of indigenous communities, can be seen in the change of family structure, rights of women, and the representation of culture. The pre-colonial indigenous social structure, in terms of family, was heavily reliant on marriage. Marriage was important to the way individuals lived in relation to their community, since the wife and husband functioned as a “unit” where they worked together and were seen as one. A great example of this structure is seen between Titiruku, an Aymara activist, and his wife Rosa Ramos where they helped each other network and find resources. However, with colonization from the Spanish, these structures and practices have shifted greatly and had the most impact on indigenous women. Post-colonialism, the Western Colonial Ideology led to “the denial of the very notion of ‘human rights’ to the female sex” in indigenous communities. As their rights began to decrease and their role grew inferior, women became a focus for reproductive use and childcare, meanwhile the role of men increased in society and in the cities, leaving women in the background.
The representation of culture through language, clothes, and jobs reflect another change in the identity of indigenous communities through the shift in the social hierarchy due to Spanish colonization. The most notable shift was the assimilating behavior by indigenous men who worked in the city since they would change both their appearance and behavior. These indigenous men would trade out their traditional clothing and for more European-styled clothes all the while speaking Spanish throughout their time in La Paz, Bolivia.  The fact that some indigenous men did change their clothes and language, or simply the fact that they were able to do that not only reflected their privilege and power in their communities, but also impacted the way indigenous women were viewed in society and their accessibility to certain jobs.
Indigenous women would wear more traditional clothing which included skirts, or polleras, that made them stand out more and, in a sense, stay stagnant in their roles. These clothing pieces were traditional and stood out as a significant factor of their indigeneity and culture, therefore it was hard for them to blend in or assimilate they way the indigenous men did. Notably, the ideas that “To the man, the profession, and to the woman, the hacienda” led indigenous women to more often than not work as artisans, in domestic service, and in commerce. Due to this ideology, indigenous women were pushed towards these jobs with a newbound society setup to keep it that way. The fact that Spanish colonialism impacted so many aspects of the performative identity of indigenous individuals is important to note and must be further discussed in order to achieve a greater understanding and appreciation of indigenous peoples and their work.
These points reflect the direct impact that Spanish colonialism had on the indigenous communities, a drastic change from what it once was. It is important to discuss this topic and bring it to light because the change in their social hierarchy also affects the way indigenous communities interact among themselves and with the rest of the country. This also includes their participation and decisions in other aspects, such as the way they assemble, their involvement in politics, and the leaders they choose or follow. By analyzing their social structure, we are able to further understand indigenous communities but also, we have the opportunity to examine how this structure has evolved within indigenous communities and whether or not it has retained the changes. Also, by gaining this new understanding, we can compare the impact on indigenous social hierarchies in other Latin American countries, not just Bolivia, that were also conquered by the Spanish empire, in order to evaluate how much the impact was and for how long it has remained.
There are various key terms that are essential to understanding, or at least beginning to understand, the impacts on indigenous communities from Spanish colonialism. The most important term to begin this analysis is discussing what colonialism is and who it has impacted in society. By recognizing the term, we can fully dive into the discussion of its impacts. Also, Indigenous feminism, on the other hand, is crucial for the realization of the roles indigenous women faced in their society through time. Due to Western Ideology, the role of indigenous women changed not only in their society but in also the one of Bolivia as a whole, and therefore it is important to acknowledge the need to support of these women, not necessarily all since other women were relieved of certain jobs that they pressed upon indigenous women instead. The term ayllu remains significant as well because the idea of community has adapted and been modified throughout time, both pre and post colonialism reaching even towards the way it is viewed today.