Malocas and barracones. Tradition, biodiversity, and participation in the Colombian Amazon

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of the assumptions and hypotheses that guide the resolve of an NGO in the Colombian Amazon to strengthen indigenous autonomy and the traditional forms of environmental management, thereby seeking to guarantee preservation of the region's biodiversity. An examination of the practices stemming from these postulates reveals the paradox of the action of projects and programmes which, in their eagerness to put traditional knowledge first, end up as the purveyors of rational epistemology and logic. This process is shown through reference to the uses made throughout history of the maloca, the traditional indigenous dwelling of north‐west Amazonia, and of the barracón, an edifice introduced with the commercial exploitation of rubber, a paradigm of the “unbridled capitalism” that has spearheaded the violent colonisation of the region.