State, Anti‐State, and Indigenous Entitles: Reflections Upon a Páez Resguardo and the New Colombian Constitution

• Published in: Journal of Latin American Anthropology
• Main Author: Field, Les W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1996
• Subjects: General Medicine; Artide
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jlca.1996.1.2.98; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1525%2Fjlca.1996.1.2.98; https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/jlca.1996.1.2.98

Colombia's new Constitution includes far‐reaching legislation that for the first time in that nation's history affirms the multi‐eth‐nic character of its population. This document explicitly recognizes indigenous peoples' rights to distinctive socio‐cultural, political and economic organization on territory the state pledges to recognize as Indigenous Territorial Entities ETIs. This artide explores the complex and contradictory situation the constitutional reforms pose for Colombia' s indigenous peoples nationfrom the vantage of a Páez community (Cauca Province, southwestern Colombia), its history of resistance to the Colombian state, and contemporary attempts by members of this community to utilize agricultural development, both legal and illegal, as a means of economic survival.