Juan Gregorio Palechor: The Story of My Life

Description

The Colombian activist Juan Gregorio Palechor (1923–1992) dedicated his life to championing indigenous rights in Cauca, a department in the southwest of Colombia, where he helped found the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca. Recounting his life story in collaboration with the Colombian anthropologist Myriam Jimeno, Palechor traces his political awakening, his experiences in national politics, the disillusionment that resulted, and his turn to a more radical activism aimed at confronting ethnic discrimination and fighting for indigenous territorial and political sovereignty. Palechor's lively memoir is complemented by Jimeno's reflections on autobiography as an anthropological tool and on the oppressive social and political conditions faced by Colombia's indigenous peoples. A faithful and fluent transcription of Palechor's life story, this work is a uniquely valuable resource for understanding the contemporary indigenous rights movements in Colombia. Contents......Page 6 Foreword by Joanne Rappaport......Page 10 Preface......Page 14 Acknowledgments......Page 16 Introduction......Page 18 Part 1. Narrations, Life Stories, and Autobiographies......Page 26 For Those Who Come After......Page 27 The Anthropological Narrative as Dialogue......Page 29 Life Stories, Biographies, and Autobiographies......Page 31 Recovering the Subaltern Vision......Page 34 Reality, Experience, and Expression: The Authorship of Oral Histories......Page 36 Debates on Technique in Life Stories......Page 39 Part 2. Juan Gregorio Palechor: Between the Community and the Nation......Page 44 Identity and Ethnic Re-creation......Page 45 Ethnicity as a Social Relation......Page 52 The Limits of Diversity and Ethnic Recognition......Page 54 Juan Gregorio Palechor: Between the Community and the Nation......Page 61 Cauca, the Resguardo of Guachicono, and Indigenous Movements......Page 71 Identity and the Struggle for the Resguardo......Page 77 A Politics of Our Own and the Reinvention of Identity......Page 82 Part 3. Juan Gregorio Palechor: The Story of My Life......Page 92 Where I Come From: Five Generations of the Macizo Colombiano and Guachicono......Page 93 Recognizing the Way of the World and Observing the Weather......Page 95 Life on the Resguardo......Page 97 Our Nervousness about School and What We Were Taught......Page 105 The Harshness of Family Life and the Art of Agriculture......Page 109 When I Was Conscripted......Page 113 Learning New Things......Page 119 Public Life and Political Violence......Page 121 During the Violence, I Was Forced by Necessity to Work as a Tinterillo......Page 127 The Formation of Community Action Committees: The Liberal Revolutionary Movement and the National Front......Page 136 Religion, Money, and Politics......Page 141 Working with the MRL and the Political Parties......Page 148 The Management Class of the Catholic Religion......Page 152 Looking for an Organization: The Campesino Association and the Indigenous Organization......Page 155 My Work in CRIC......Page 160 The Struggles of CRIC and Indigenous Traditions......Page 165 Politiqueros and Their Empty Words......Page 173 Why an Organization of Indigenous People?......Page 175 Appendix: CRIC Documents......Page 180 Glossary......Page 208 Notes......Page 212 References......Page 232 Index......Page 242