Crossing the Border: Racism and Sexism in a Conflicted Country

Abstract

Many people are not conscious of the situation of minorities in the Americas, particularly as it relates to ethnic community and women’s struggles. Afro-Colombians, the second largest population of black people in Latin America, are still largely invisible for many reasons, including histories of slavery, poverty, segregation, and exclusion, and current displacement, loss of ancestral territories, and massacres by actors in the war. Meanwhile, black women are engaged in their own fight for rights and participation using a gender and ethnic perspective. This article is a general panorama of Afro-Colombian people’s present situation, highlighting the process that the Afro-Colombian people are using to defend their rights, heritage, and ability to survive within a complex scenery of armed conflict and lack of political power.