Entre la autonomía y la institucionalización: Dilemas del movimiento negro colombiano

Abstract

Among the various trends of the black movement in Colombia, with diverse claims, it is the peasant movement of the Pacific—whose territorial struggle has been presented as ethnic vindication—with the most initiative and the greatest accomplishments. The so‐called "black communities" Law 70 of 1993, the result of the mobilization of heterogeneous black organizations, centers on the creation of collective territories in the Pacific, but has marginalized other aspects of the black movement and has caused it a decrease in political initiative, as well as considerable institutionalization. This, along with particular identitary proposals and organizing styles, has favored local organizations tied or aspiring to collective territories, but has also generated increasing fragmentation of other black organizations. Recently, armed conflict has burst violently into areas of rural black organizations. This article analizes this situation in the last decade, in light of theoretical reflections on identity, ethnicity, race, and social movements.