The owners of the land vs. the owners of the guns: a community response to violence. A case study of the Indigenous Guard s non-violent resistance in southern Colombia
This dissertation studies the Indigenous Guard, a non-violent strategy of survival of the CRIC Indigenous Movement of southern Colombia. It seeks to understand what has made the unarmed alternative of the Indigenous Guard viable in the midst of the Colombian armed conflict. Different approaches to non-violent action are discussed, and based in this discussion it is argued that a combined attention to changing conditions in the social field and internal community dynamics is needed to account for the viability of the Indigenous Guard. Thus, the case study is pursued through attention to two levels.
Firstly, it approaches the broad framework in which the CRIC operates, in which the struggle for land and changing citizenship regimes are key explanatory factors. Secondly, and in order to approach internal community dynamics, participant observation and a series of interviews with members of the communities were carried out, the results of which are presented. It is concluded that the functioning of the Indigenous Guard is based in strong norms of reciprocity – duty towards each other- that are reinforced by external referents such as the FARC guerrilla and the Colombian state. Furthermore, it is suggested that this process affects how these communities face changing political opportunities.
Fuente:
Biblioteca Virtual Banco de la República
Formatos de contenido:
Tesis
