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RACE & SOCIAL CLASSES IN COLOMBIA

Explore the racial composition, historical perspectives, and modern-day challenges of race and social classes in Colombia. Learn about the Afro-Colombian community, Amerindian perspectives, and the impact of social classes in the country’s evolution.

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RACE & SOCIAL CLASSES IN COLOMBIA

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  1. RACE & SOCIAL CLASSES IN COLOMBIA Luis Angel Madrid April 2010 Niagara University

  2. Main facts • Population 43 million (the third largest country in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico) • 4 million living abroad (US, Spain & Venezuela) • No. 79 in the Global Index of Human Development • Perhaps the most isolated nation in LA after Independence: la “hispanidad”

  3. Capital: Bogota

  4. Racial composition: 3 races • 58%: “mestizo” • 20% white (not a distinctive ethnic group, mainly from Spanish origins) • 10%-18% Afro-Colombian & mulatto (the third largest community after US and Brazil) • 4%: Amerindian • People from diverse origins (Arabs, Jew)

  5. In Antioquia: the whitest Confirms the fact: few Spanish women came to Colombia, conquistadores consorted with Indian females DNA testing reveals: male lineage 94% white; 60% female lineage Amerindian The scantest European & Asian immigration in LA in the post-Independence period

  6. AFRO COLOMBIA

  7. Brought as slaves from Africa (to the gold mines & sugar plantations) • Department of Choco (Pacific Coast) • Archipelago of San Andres & Old Providence (Caribbean) • Valle del Cauca (Buenaventura, Pacific Coast) • Department of Bolivar (Caribbean): San Basilio de Palenque

  8. King BenkosBioho (hanged & quartered in 1621)

  9. Palenque de San Basilio • The foremost palenque of free black Americans during the Colonial period • Recognized by the Spanish Crown as the first free town of America (1713) • Largely unchanged until 1970 • Declared part of the World Heritage by UNESCO

  10. ADMIRAL JOSE PRUDENCIO PADILLA

  11. 1788-1828 • Hero of the Colombian Independence • The “Colombian Horatio Nelson” • Executed under accusation of conspiring against Bolivar

  12. But, who is the real one?

  13. First afro-american president ever

  14. President Juan Jose Nieto (January-July 1861)

  15. The Manuel Saturio Valencia case: lynching by law in Colombia

  16. “First street” Quibdó (Chocó)

  17. 1867-1907 • First African lawyer in Latin America and the first who could walk in Quibdó First Street • Officer in the Army & judge at the criminal bench • Committed the “usual crime” • Framed & accused of arson & sentenced to execution by shooting at a kangaroo court (the last man executed in Colombia) • Rehabilitated by Law 1042 of 2006.

  18. Afro Colombians today • Complete emancipation in 1851 (1820 free at birth) • The highest fertility rate in the country: 2.7% • Forced internal migration: major victims of the Colombian conflict and drug trafficking • 10% of displaced people (on the whole 1.5 million-3.5 million)

  19. Colombian Amerindians

  20. Two views

  21. Main Amerindian communities

  22. “We were gods and they transformed us into slaves” • A colonial genocide? 90% eliminated • The New Laws (LeyesNuevas) of 1542 • 1.4 million people in Colombia: 90 ethnic community • 30% of Colombian territory in reservations (“resguardos”) • Under permanent threat (murder % displacement) from many quarters (Indian leaders target of violence)

  23. AMNISTY INTERNATIONAL “….. indígenas colombianos corren riesgo de desaparecer” El Tiempo, 22 Feb 2010 -

  24. Social classes: tougher than race • Constitution of 1991: major boost to equality in all fronts, but … • The criollo elite: political & economic power • Mestizo: assimilating by education and wealth • Amerindians • Afro Colombian: an open question … the Obama factor: ministers and generals

  25. Manythanks

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