Afro-Latin American geographies of in-betweenness: Colonial marronage in Colombia

Abstract

This article explores Maroon spatialities during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries through a critical geographical analysis based on historical records collected in the General Archive of the Indies, the National General Archive of Bogotá, and the oral tradition of San Basilio de Palenque, a community of descendants of fugitives from slavery located in the Montes de María in the Colombian Caribbean. The article’s findings show that San Basilio de Palenque survived by navigating in-between different colonial forms of producing territory that simultaneously implied opposition and co-optation. Drawing on Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui’s “ch’ixi” and Gloria Anzaldúa’s “border notions,” this spatial navigation embraced opposition and fissure between African, European, and indigenous elements without trying to suppress or reconcile them. This ethic of spatial balance as marronage was San Basilio de Palenque’s formula for survival. The methodology implemented in this article also required stepping in-between the archive and the oral tradition, without taking sides, taking a ch’ixi/border approach, as well revisiting the history of this Maroon community in Latin America.