Tutelazo Limpio

This book is an analysis of the constitutive power of§law and its role in the subalternization of subjects§in Colombia. It analyzes the way law became central§in the process of occidentalization of indigenous§peoples and in the constitution of the Colombian§nation as an inclusive/exclusive imagined community.§It is based on a multilayered historical, textual§analyses of archival documentation and§interviews to indigenous rights activists, former§guerrilla members, and members of the Colombian§elites. This work begins with an analysis of the way§law was used during the colony to constitute an§occidental identity and goes on to analyze some 19th§century Colombia legal artifacts in order to show the§logic of incorporation into modernity that repeats§itself in different waves of globalization. It§analyzes the incorporation of indigenous rights in§the 1991 Constitution, its implementation by the§Colombian Constitutional Court and its role in§constituting a liberal identity as part of neoliberal§governmentality. It also analyzes the processes of§resistance of indigenous peoples and the way their§claims are framed in legal terms in order to be heard§by the national state.