Stacie is a Masters student in Anthropology at UNM.
This research was made possible in part by funding from the Latin American & Iberian Institute and Tinker Foundation Research Grant (FRG). For more information about the FRG, please visit the LAII website.
Courtesy of author- aerial view of Bogotá Historically, Afro-Colombians have been socially marginalized and politically excluded. Beginning in the early 1500s, African slave labor was applied to cattle raising, transportation, construction, and domestic service (Arocha 1998, p. 73-4), with a later a focus on gold and platinum mining. Due to the scattering of slave concentrations throughout the country, ethnic reconstruction was limited until the early 1900s, when the rise of sugar plantations sparked consolidation efforts for enslaved Afro-descended populations –though it is still difficult to trace ethnic identity formations (Arocha 1998, p. 73). Arocha notes that Afro-Colombians were made invisible by the Christianization of African slaves, wherein names were altered or replaced to match masters’ family names. Additionally, a shift towards a new caste system abandoned racial terminology, instead tying in whiteness directly to authenticity and “rationality” (ibid 1998; see also Arocha 1992). The concept of progress became inextricably tied to race, with Afro-Colombians at the far end of the spectrum. To this day, some academics and political officials still consider Afro-Colombian history as being “fake” or invented when compared to that of indigenous peoples, mestizos, and Spanish inhabitants (Walsh 2007, p. 201-7). It should be noted that in Colombia, Afro-descended populations outnumber indigenous populations, and have been living in the country since the sixteenth century (Walsh 2007 p. 202; Oslender 2002 p. 91). Out of the roughly 15 million Afro-descendants living in Colombia, over one million reside in the Pacific coastal region, the majority being in Quibdó, Buenaventura, Tumaco, and Guapi with around forty percent living in smaller, more rural areas (Oslender 2007, p. 754; Walsh 2007, p. 201).
The Pacific coastal region of Colombia covers ten million hectares, eighty percent of which is still covered by tropical rainforests. The region is isolated from the rest of the country by the Western Andean mountain chain, with little more than three roads leading to the area. In the early 1990s, paramilitaries had yet to infiltrate the Pacific coast (Asher 2007, p. 13). In fact, the government had considered Afro-Colombians and indigenous groups on the coast to be “guardians” of the rainforests (Oslender 2002, p. 95). However, the idea of protection that was prominent in the early 1990s was soon transformed by the intrusion of paramilitary forces seeking to establish African palm oil plantations (Oslender 2007, p. 758). Since then, thousands of Afro-Colombians have been driven out by armed groups. The first in a series of violent attacks happened on December 20th, 1996. Under the pretense that they were combating FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the Colombian army and paramilitaries carried out an offensive attack in the area of Northern Chocó. It is important to note that the national media outlets and journalists never addressed nor confirmed the impetus behind this offensive. As a result of these attacks, over twenty thousand Afro-Colombians were forcibly displaced from their homes during January and February of 1997 (Oslender 2007:756). The purported reasoning behind the attacks is misguided at best. Evidence found in the wake of the offensive points to displacement as a development strategy for African palm oil production, which flourishes in the bio-diverse region of the Pacific coast (portal.fedepalma.org). Because of paramilitary encroachments, Afro-Colombians have become one of the largest internally displaced populations in the world.
Courtesy of author. Bogotá, D.C. In this project, I investigate the forced displacement of Afro-Colombians on the Pacific coast of Colombia, which I attribute to the encroachment of paramilitary forces working in cooperation with the Colombian government, army, and multinationals in order to expand the production of African palm oil plantations. While conducting ethnographic fieldwork in Bogotá during the summer of 2013, I focused on the following research question: in what ways does the history of human rights violations against Afro-Colombian communities contribute to racialized discourses within Colombia? The current academic literature regarding minorities in the country remains ambiguous concerning the origin of internal refugees in relation to the production of African palm oil production, and the state remains largely silent (Walsh 2004; 2007).
This study builds on existing scholarship, and expands upon the analysis of racial ideologies and the logic of forced displacement on Colombia’s Pacific coastal region. While there have been many current ethnographic studies regarding the marginality of Afro-Colombians (Offen 2003; Wade 1995; 1999; 2004) as well as human rights violations and forced displacement (Oslender 2002; 2007; Tate 2007), there has been a lack of research connecting the expansion of African palm oil production to the growing populations of internalized refugees throughout the country.
The mobilization of Afro-Colombians around issues of human rights, racial discrimination, history, and land has increased in the last several years. The state has created some institutional space for Afro-Colombians (Oslender 2007:341), but as Katherine Walsh notes, Afro-Colombians often feel forgotten, “Their presence [is] literally and figuratively in the shadow of the indigenous” (2007:202). Calling them los últimos otros, Walsh highlights the anxiety felt by Afro-Colombians, whose acknowledgement as a minority group was historically delayed, and who have been marginalized once again by the growth of the African palm industry.
The purpose of this trip was to perform preliminary research that will be used to write my Masters thesis in Anthropology, titled Afro-Colombians and the Encroachment of Paramilitaries on the African Palm Oil Sector. My thesis explores the thriving African palm oil industry in Colombia, with a particular focus on plantations on the Pacific coast and the increase of paramilitary presence in the region. I had not performed my own research before this trip, but had spent the last two years of my academic career studying this topic.
While in Bogotá, I conducted four interviews that informed my research. I met with an economics professor at the Universidad de los Andes, as well as three United States Embassy officials. I also traveled several times to the Archivo General de la Nación Colombia (national archives) to informally meet with employees and discuss my research. In this time, I gained several new contacts and was able to view records of Afro-Colombian history and representation. As I had suspected, the records of Afro-Colombians did not offer any insight into the African palm oil industry. However, this lack of information helped me to confirm that there is little to no discourse concerning the direct relation of Afro-Colombian displacement and African palm oil production on the Pacific coast.
The knowledge gained from my informal interviews, research at the archives and library, as well as my experiences discussing my research with Colombians while in Bogotá, will serve as invaluable contributions to my Masters thesis. I encourage those traveling to Colombia in the future to be aware of the lack of discourse concerning this topic, as well as the potential speed bumps that can be encountered when researching a controversial subject such as this. For example, my time at the Embassy offered minimal relevant information, instead shifting the focus away from specifics to a more general overlook of Afro-Colombian affairs and representation, as well as a broad, sanitized look at palm oil production. I have learned a tremendous amount from the short time spent in Colombia doing research, and thank the Latin American & Iberian Institute and the Tinker Foundation for giving me the opportunity to perform preliminary fieldwork. The original data collected, as well as my two years of research on this subject, will provide me the foundation necessary to finish my thesis.
This study builds on existing scholarship, and expands upon the analysis of racial ideologies and the logic of forced displacement on Colombia’s Pacific coastal region. While there have been many current ethnographic studies regarding the marginality of Afro-Colombians (Offen 2003; Wade 1995; 1999; 2004) as well as human rights violations and forced displacement (Oslender 2002; 2007; Tate 2007), there has been a lack of research connecting the expansion of African palm oil production to the growing populations of internalized refugees throughout the country.
The mobilization of Afro-Colombians around issues of human rights, racial discrimination, history, and land has increased in the last several years. The state has created some institutional space for Afro-Colombians (Oslender 2007:341), but as Katherine Walsh notes, Afro-Colombians often feel forgotten, “Their presence [is] literally and figuratively in the shadow of the indigenous” (2007:202). Calling them los últimos otros, Walsh highlights the anxiety felt by Afro-Colombians, whose acknowledgement as a minority group was historically delayed, and who have been marginalized once again by the growth of the African palm industry.
The purpose of this trip was to perform preliminary research that will be used to write my Masters thesis in Anthropology, titled Afro-Colombians and the Encroachment of Paramilitaries on the African Palm Oil Sector. My thesis explores the thriving African palm oil industry in Colombia, with a particular focus on plantations on the Pacific coast and the increase of paramilitary presence in the region. I had not performed my own research before this trip, but had spent the last two years of my academic career studying this topic.
While in Bogotá, I conducted four interviews that informed my research. I met with an economics professor at the Universidad de los Andes, as well as three United States Embassy officials. I also traveled several times to the Archivo General de la Nación Colombia (national archives) to informally meet with employees and discuss my research. In this time, I gained several new contacts and was able to view records of Afro-Colombian history and representation. As I had suspected, the records of Afro-Colombians did not offer any insight into the African palm oil industry. However, this lack of information helped me to confirm that there is little to no discourse concerning the direct relation of Afro-Colombian displacement and African palm oil production on the Pacific coast.
The knowledge gained from my informal interviews, research at the archives and library, as well as my experiences discussing my research with Colombians while in Bogotá, will serve as invaluable contributions to my Masters thesis. I encourage those traveling to Colombia in the future to be aware of the lack of discourse concerning this topic, as well as the potential speed bumps that can be encountered when researching a controversial subject such as this. For example, my time at the Embassy offered minimal relevant information, instead shifting the focus away from specifics to a more general overlook of Afro-Colombian affairs and representation, as well as a broad, sanitized look at palm oil production. I have learned a tremendous amount from the short time spent in Colombia doing research, and thank the Latin American & Iberian Institute and the Tinker Foundation for giving me the opportunity to perform preliminary fieldwork. The original data collected, as well as my two years of research on this subject, will provide me the foundation necessary to finish my thesis.
References
Asher, Kiran. 2007. Ser y Tener: Black Women’s Activism, Development, and Ethnicity in the Pacific Lowlands of Colombia. Feminist Studies. 33(1): 11-37.
Arocha, Jaime. 1998. Inclusion of Afro-Colombians: Unreachable Goal? Latin American Perspectives. 25(3):70-89.
Offen, Karl. 2003. The Territorial Turn: Making Black Territories in Pacific Colombia. Journal of Latin American Geography. 2(1):43-73.
Oslender, Ulrich. 2002. "The Logic of the River": A Spatial Approach to Ethnic-Territorial Mobilization in the Colombian Pacific Region. The Journal of Latin American Anthropology 7(2):86-117.
_______. 2007. Violence in Development: The Logic of Forced Displacement on Colombia’s Pacific Coast. Development in Practice. 17(6):752-764.
_______. 2008. Another History of Violence: The Production of "Geographies of Terror" in Colombia's Pacific Coast Region. Latin American Perspectives. 35(5):77-102.
Tate, Winifred. 2007. Counting the dead: the culture and politics of human rights
activism in Colombia. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Wade, Peter. 1995. The Cultural Politics of Blackness in Colombia. American Ethnologist. 22(2):341-357.
_______. 1999. Working Culture: Making Cultural Identities in Cali, Colombia. Current Anthropology. 40(4):449-72.
_______. 2004. Images of Latin American Mestizaje and the Politics of Comparison. Bulletin of Latin American Research. 23(3):355-66.
Walsh, Katherine. 2007. Lo Afro en América Andina: reflexiones en torno a lucha actuales de (invisibilidad, (re)existencia y pensamiento. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. 12(1):200-212.
Asher, Kiran. 2007. Ser y Tener: Black Women’s Activism, Development, and Ethnicity in the Pacific Lowlands of Colombia. Feminist Studies. 33(1): 11-37.
Arocha, Jaime. 1998. Inclusion of Afro-Colombians: Unreachable Goal? Latin American Perspectives. 25(3):70-89.
Offen, Karl. 2003. The Territorial Turn: Making Black Territories in Pacific Colombia. Journal of Latin American Geography. 2(1):43-73.
Oslender, Ulrich. 2002. "The Logic of the River": A Spatial Approach to Ethnic-Territorial Mobilization in the Colombian Pacific Region. The Journal of Latin American Anthropology 7(2):86-117.
_______. 2007. Violence in Development: The Logic of Forced Displacement on Colombia’s Pacific Coast. Development in Practice. 17(6):752-764.
_______. 2008. Another History of Violence: The Production of "Geographies of Terror" in Colombia's Pacific Coast Region. Latin American Perspectives. 35(5):77-102.
Tate, Winifred. 2007. Counting the dead: the culture and politics of human rights
activism in Colombia. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Wade, Peter. 1995. The Cultural Politics of Blackness in Colombia. American Ethnologist. 22(2):341-357.
_______. 1999. Working Culture: Making Cultural Identities in Cali, Colombia. Current Anthropology. 40(4):449-72.
_______. 2004. Images of Latin American Mestizaje and the Politics of Comparison. Bulletin of Latin American Research. 23(3):355-66.
Walsh, Katherine. 2007. Lo Afro en América Andina: reflexiones en torno a lucha actuales de (invisibilidad, (re)existencia y pensamiento. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. 12(1):200-212.
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