Political and Cultural Performativity: The Colombian Indigenous Movement and its Participation in the National Constituent Assembly of 1990

Abstract

Colombia between 1990 and 1991 was inserted in a process of constitutional re-foundation that generated a climate of optimism and democratic openness in the achievement of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), as a way out of the political crisis and generalized violence that the country was facing. In this context, on July 4, 1991, the new Constitution was proclaimed, which represented a turning point for the political participation of other social sectors, including ethnic groups, creating a historic opportunity for the Colombian indigenous movement. This article describes and analyzes the indigenous constituents’ participation by reviewing their proposals and the organization modes they represented. The successful configuration of the performativity of indigenous identity, against the backdrop of historical struggles for land, denunciations of human rights violations, and the figure of their representatives, positioned the discourse of ethnic and cultural diversity as a nodal value of a multiethnic and multicultural state.