The use of multicultural legal instruments in a dispute between Afrodescendants and indigenous people: the case of Guamal, Colombia

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn Colombia, the engagement of Afrodescendants in the political field opened up by multiculturalism has generated sociopolitical realities that require a careful examination of the relations among ethnoracial ‘minority’ groups and between them and state institutions. Guamal, a town in the Colombian Andes, has been seen as mainly populated by descendants of enslaved Africans who have had history of sociocultural and economic interactions with indigenous communities, including disputes over land ownership. This paper examines the use of various ‘multicultural’ legal instruments and institutional mechanisms in disputes provoked by multicultural recognition. It focuses on a series of litigations between the town’s Afrodescendant community council and the indigenous authorities of cabildo Cañamomo-Lomaprieta. In 2013, the indigenous authorities filed a legal action claiming that the state should have consulted their communities prior to recognition of the Afrodescendant council because such administrative measure directly affected their well-being. Through analysis of the formalization of the Afrodescendant community council and the tutelage claim filed by an indigenous governor in the case, this article shows how, after 28 years of multiculturalism, ethnoracial minorities have developed a wide range of skills and politico-legal strategies that allow them to claim rights and legitimize their forms of authority and organization.