Cited by 4Afro-Latin American StudiesIndigenous Studies in Latin AmericaConflict, Peace, and Violence in Colombia

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 6 of the 6 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 2 of the 23 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Négociations identitaires et légitimités territoriales: les chilapos dans le bajo atrato en colombie

Open access
Corredor, Jessica·2014·Cahiers de l’Urmis

Abstract

Dans cet article je souhaite aborder le thème des revendications identitaires et légitimités territoriales des Chilapos, paysans métis1 provenant du département de Córdoba, au nord de la Colombie, et arrivés dans le Bajo Atrato à partir des années 1970. Ils mobilisent aujourd’hui différentes identités afin de revendiquer leurs légitimités territoriales. Ainsi, il sera question d’analyser comment la population chilapa négocie et construit son appartenance à l’afrocolombianité par un discours selon lequel « être noir n’est pas seulement une question de couleur de peau ». La fluidité dans la construction de discours et pratiques autour des identités s’accompagne de nouvelles territorialités et vice-versa. Où se trouvent les limites de cette fluidité ?

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This article examines how Chilapos (mestizo peasants from Córdoba and the Sinú valley, settled since the 1970s in the Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó basins of the Bajo Atrato, Chocó, Colombia) negotiate identities and territorial legitimacy after Law 70 of 1993 and the forced displacement of 1996–1997. It argues that through humanitarian and biodiversity zones the Chilapos reappropriate and transform the ethnic lexicon of Law 70 — claiming "afrocolombianidad" beyond skin colour — to legitimize their access to collectively titled land, while this fluidity reaches its limits in the conflict with ASCOBA over land restitution.

Key findings

  • Law 70 of 1993 granted collective territorial rights to "black communities," tending to naturalize a "black" identity and generating inter-ethnic tensions; Chilapos, although the majority in the Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó basins, were not recognized as "black" but were accepted as *possessores de boa fé* (good-faith possessors) by black inhabitants, allowing their inclusion in collective titles without being named as a distinct group.
  • After the 1996–1997 displacement — described as the country's largest mass displacement, with figures varying but around 10,000 people displaced — the ethnic-territorial struggle shifted to a discourse of victims' rights, return, and environmental protection; the first humanitarian zone was created in the Jiguamiandó basin in 2004, and biodiversity zones from 2006.
  • Currently there are 8 humanitarian zones and about 60 biodiversity zones across the two basins, grouping roughly 2,000 people; humanitarian zones range from 1 to 5 hectares, delimited by fencing and signage citing the laws and conventions protecting them.
  • Two organizational models now compete: the humanitarian/biodiversity zones (associated locally with Chilapos, federated in an association since 2010) and ASCOBA (created 2003, grouping more than 50 community councils across the Bajo Atrato, associated with Blacks), which refuses Chilapo participation in community council representation; this polarization has delayed land restitution in Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó by more than 6 years.
  • Chilapos articulate territorial legitimacy through claims such as "I am afro because we are in this struggle," ancestral residence in Chocó, and adoption of "traditional production practices" attributed to black communities; the Constitutional Court's December 2012 decision (Auto 299/12) defined beneficiaries of collective territorial rights as those who, "without necessarily having phenotypic traits of the black race," meet the conditions that gave rise to protection of these communities' collective rights.

Methods

  • Qualitative ethnographic case study of the eastern margin of the Bajo Atrato (Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó basins, Chocó department), based on fieldwork and interviews conducted in humanitarian zones (Caracolí, Camelias, Caño Manso) and with institutional actors, with interview dates cited between November 2011 and May 2013 (plus one in Medellín, February 2012).
  • Analysis of legal and institutional material: Law 70 of 1993, the 1991 Constitution, international humanitarian and environmental law instruments, and Constitutional Court decisions, including Auto 299 of 18 December 2012.
  • The author frames the analysis through the concepts of territorial legitimacy (after Hoffmann 2013) and socially produced space, examining how spatial figures (zones) and identity discourses are articulated and negotiated.

Limitations

  • The paper states that it does not develop the characteristics and interests of the economic, military, and political actors involved, and that it does not aim to judge whether the Chilapos' use of discourses is instrumentalization ("il ne m'intéresse pas ici de juger de ce qui est bien ou mal").
  • The paper states its objective is not to reduce the complex territorial dynamics of the Bajo Atrato to an ethnic question, presenting the Chilapo case as one illustration among others not mentioned.
  • Evident from the text: the analysis rests on a small set of named interviews and a single regional case, so the findings are not presented as generalizable; the author also notes that the number of displaced persons is uncertain ("les chiffres varient").

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.4000/urmis.1261

Cites

6 of 6 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Figures

Image 1
CC-BY-NC-ND · From the PDF

Verification

Claims the paper makes

50 Own interpretation · 26 No basis given · 15 Sources not found · 3 Not checked yet · 2 Partly supported · 2 No full text of the sources · 1 Own result · accuracy not yet measured

Verify all 1 references — free account

Show all 44 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 22
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 39
55 of 55
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Chilapos are mestizo peasants from the department of Córdoba and the Sinú river valley, majority in the Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó basins, and minority in the Chocó department and the Pacific region (which is majority black).

    “Les Chilapos 2 , paysans métis provenant du département de Córdoba et de la vallée du fleuve Sinú, majoritaires dans les bassins du Curvaradó et Jiguamiandó -situés sur la marge orientale du Bajo Atrato -sont minoritaires dans le département du Chocó et, de manière plus large, dans la région dite du Pacifique colombien peuplée majoritairement par une population noire 3 .”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The forced displacement of the Bajo Atrato population (Blacks, Chilapos, Indians) occurred in 1996 and 1997 as a result of military operations of the Brigade XVII of the army in connivance with paramilitary groups.

    “à la suite du déplacement forcé de la population du Bajo Atrato (quelles que soient leurs identifications comme Noirs, Chilapos et Indiens) qui a eu lieu en 1996 et 1997 suite aux opérations militaires de la Brigade XVII de l'armée en connivence avec des groupes paramilitaires”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Space is not only a social, political and symbolic product, but also physical and concrete, and cannot superimpose itself.

    “L'espace, qui non seulement est un produit social, politique et symbolique, mais aussi à la fois physique et concret, ne peut pas se superposer à lui-même.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The question of black identity emerged during the 1991 Constituent Assembly, which later led to Law 70.

    “L'identité noire est une question qui surgit lors de l'Assemblée constituante en 1991, qui a par la suite amené la loi 70.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The answer to the black identity question is inscribed in the 1991 Constitution/Assembly, associating black communities with life in 'community', environmental protection through ancestral relation to land, and traditional production practices.

    “La réponse à la question de l'identité noire s'y trouve inscrite, associant les communautés noires à des caractéristiques telles que la vie en « communauté » mais aussi la protection de l'environnement par leur rapport « ancestral » à la terre et leurs « pratiques traditionnelles de production ».”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    To be part of a collective title, one had to be native or resident in these lands for at least ten years.

    “en se référant au fait que pour faire partie du titre collectif il fallait être natif ou résident dans ces terres depuis au moins dix ans.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    For granting the rights inscribed in Law 70, black communities are subordinated to organization around a new authority, the Community Council, responsible for ensuring collective land management.

    “Pour l'octroi des droits inscrits dans cette loi, les communautés noires sont subordonnées à l'organisation autour d'une nouvelle autorité, le « Conseil communautaire », chargé de veiller à la gestion « collective » de la terre.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Les Chilapos ne correspondent pas aux caractéristiques phénotypiques associées aux communautés noires.

    “Les Chilapos, qui ne correspondent pas aux caractéristiques phénotypiques qui sont associées aux communautés noires”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Les conditions du conflit armé n'évolueront pas à court ou moyen terme.

    “puisque les conditions du conflit armé n'évolueront pas à court ou moyen terme.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    La loi 70 de 1993 est perçue comme une loi « essentialiste » dans ses débuts.

    “perçue comme une loi « essentialiste » dans ses débuts”
10 of 10

Citations

Cites

Show all 5 references

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. CARDENAS Roosbelinda (2011), “El mito del multiculturalismo interrumpido”. In, Afro-Latino Social Movements Conference, Miami, Actes non publiés.
  2. DAS Veena et POOLE Deborah (2004), Anthropology in the Margins of the State, Santa Fe, School of American Research Press.
  3. FRANCO Vilma et RESTREPO Juan diego (2011), “Empresarios palmeros, poderes de facto y despojo de tierras en el Bajo atrato” in ROMERO VIDAL (ed.), La economía de los paramilitares. Redes de corrupción, negocios y política, Bogotá, Corporaciòn Nuevo Arco Iris.
  4. RUIZ SERNA Daniel (2006), “Nuevas formas de ser negro. Consideraciones sobre las identidades entre la gente chilapa y negra del Bajo Atrato”. In, BOLIVAR Ingrid J. (Ed.), Identidades culturales y formación del Estado en Colombia. Colonización, naturaleza y cultura, Bogotá, Ediciones Uniandes.
  5. VILLA William (2013), “Colonización y conflicto territorial en el bajo Atrato : el poblamiento de las cuencas de la margen oriental”, Revista de Estudios del Pacífico Colombiano, 1, pp. 9-56.

Metadata

Authors
Corredor, J.
Affiliations
Université Paris Diderot (FR)
Corresponding author
Corredor, Jessica
Venue
Cahiers de l’Urmis
Publisher
OpenEdition
Published
2014
Volume
15
ISSN
  • 1287-471X (ISSN-L)
  • 1773-021X
OpenAlex
W1529225782
Cited by
3
References
5
Citations by year
2023: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1
FWCI
7.76
Type
journal article
Language
fr
Open access
Locations
  • Cahiers de l’Urmis (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • OpenEdition (OpenEdition) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Afro-Latin American Studies
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Indigenous Studies in Latin America
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Conflict, Peace, and Violence in Colombia
Keywords
Afro-Colombian identity, territorial legitimacy, identity negotiation, Córdoba, Colombia, ethnic identity formation, territoriality, Afro-Colombian communities

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