Policing culture: the champeta movement under the new Colombian Constitution

Abstract

This essay explores the dynamics of cultural policies and the policing of culture as evident in the scene of champeta music in Cartagena, Colombia in light of the Constitution of 1991. By tracing the path and examining the text of constitutional reform in Colombia in the 1990s, this article scrutinizes the redefinition of culture that the new Colombian Constitution produced, and its meaning for Afrodescendants of the Northern Coast in the realm of cultural identity and politics. Marked as a musical expression that embodies lower class and mulatto values, champeta defies prevalent preoccupations with the notion of a ‘legitimate’ and proper use of the Spanish language, for the songs utilize the regional linguistic variant and expressions that have been criticized for ‘blackening’ standard Spanish. Disapproval by the local authorities and political leadership translates into efforts to legally regulate and control champetudos’ gatherings and the distribution of their music via special decrees and outright persecution and intimidation. This very puzzling dynamics of inclusion of cultural expressions by marginalized individuals as it is stated in the multicultural discourse co‐opted by the new constitution vis à vis efforts to regulate contestatory cultural movements brings forth the contradictions that permeate current policies on culture in Colombia.