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Language further works to establish identity by encapsulating a worldview markedly removed from that of the dominant Western culture.
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Indigenous cosmology, or “cosmovision”, is difficult to translate into Romanticized languages; it maintains a concept of culture, defined as “the form of behavior resulting from a permanent harmonic relationship with Nature” (Gow and Rappaport 2002: 58) and view of history as cyclic that is often at odds with Western modes of thought.
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Conflict between cultures arise as cosmovision is rediscovered and developed, often by native shamans in tandem with indigenous leaders aided by outside researchers and non-governmental organizations.
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The differences between Western and native perceptions then lead to conflict within the revitalization movements themselves: the question of embracing Western law and discourse is continually grappled with.
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Language plays a complex and integral role in the development and redefinition of an identity, particularly when that identity has been oppressed and subsumed by a dominant other for as long as that of the indigenous peoples in Latin America has. In particular I will examine two divergent yet remarkably parallel cases, that of the Maya in Guatemala and the Nasa and Guambiano peoples of Colombia.
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Customary law in Colombia contrasts with Western law as it maintains a different perception of casual relationships: tying back to the indigenous concept of harmony, crimes are viewed as imbalances in the community's harmony and can often be traced back to those who did not perpetuate the crime, but may have influenced the accused to do so.
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When a punishment - often public and corporal in nature - is carried out, the group feels the effects as a whole.
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Shamans often sit with the criminal as he fills his sentence, sharing in their ordeal.
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(Rappaport 2005) Once punishments are completed, the criminal is seen as rehabilitated, having fulfilled his duty to restore harmonic order, and is welcomed back into the community (Gow and Rappaport 2002: 61, Rappaport 2005: 97).
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Translation of law into native languages has proved to be a difficult task, as Western ideas often have no parallel in indigenous cosmovision.
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The translation of the Colombian constitution sparked the development of neologisms, as the goal of the translators was not to provide a direct translation of the constitution, but to recapture its spirit in a native, rather than Western discourse (Gow and Rappaport 2002: 58-59).
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This provides a second interpretation of law distinct from that of the Spanish Colombian culture, and in turn an interpretation aligned with native ideology for the cabildos to follow when governing (Rappaport 2005: 93, 236).
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Translation fulfills another vital role, as it is employed in the rediscovery of the indigenous identity itself.
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Workshops and advocacy groups regularly work to translate native histories back into native forms of knowledge, distancing them from the Western influences that have invaded over the past six centuries.
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The Guambiano history project charts native history as the outward spiraling events which are both cyclic and parallel in nature; Mayan historians translate and document oral histories whose legacy is in danger of being forgotten (Rappaport 2005: 165).
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This attempt to regain identity via translation is indicative of the intimate relationship between indigenous revitalization within a modern context and native language use.
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Difficulties arise, however, as conflicts between the traditional and modern and native languages and Spanish develop.
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Many native peoples in Colombia are monolingual Spanish speakers, raising the question of the practicality of indigenous language use.
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The differences between cosmovision in Spanish and indigenous languages are great, leading to the difficulty of governing in Spanish yet embracing indigenous mode of thought.
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The authenticity of the modern Nasa, who are often metropolitan Spanish speakers attempting to reconnect with their roots, is brought into question by the traditional, who speak Nasa Yuwe and lead a rural existence(Rappaport 2005).
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In Guatemala the fact remains that Spanish is the gateway to social mobility; years of conflict and refugee status have established the desire to leave a rural way of life for an updated urban one, and those literate in Spanish have the tools to do so.
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Illiteracy and poverty is associated with Maya; thus there is the conflict between the desire to recapture the unique Mayan identity via the language and the need to improve living conditions, which most often occurs under Spanish influence.
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A further complication is the necessity of establishing authentic “Indianness”, both in the eyes of fellow indigenous peoples and the outside Spanish culture.
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Politicians make a point of appearing in their native dress and speaking in their native language in assembly, even if they are more at home in a business suit and speaking Spanish; indigenous identity has become a calling card to the extent that at times it appears to be a caricature of itself.
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Efforts towards development, then, cannot endanger traditional culture and values, for fear of losing cultural legitimacy (Jackson 1995: 5).
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There develops a duality in native culture; for example, many Nasa children receive instruction in Nasa Yuwe yet converse in Spanish outside the classroom.
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This intersection of language and indigenous identity poses challenges which have yet to be fully addressed.
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In Guatemala, they are largely comprised of the conflict between poverty and progress; the pan-Mayan movement must meet the dual trials of establishing a positive identity within the Mayan population itself and legitimacy in the legal and political arenas in order to gain policy reforms and codified rights in law.
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In Colombia, legal successes have often come about due to the Colombian government's recognition of the political viability of the rhetoric of indigenous rights; by granting indigenous peoples judicial sovereignty they hope to win the trust of a people who view the government as incapable of protecting them from the ongoing civil strife, and by giving them blocks of land they hope that the indigenous community will be able to keep out drug traffickers and guerrillas where the government itself has not (Jackson 1995: 8).
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Regardless of the ulterior motives behind their legal status, indigenous peoples in Colombia now possess the rights to teach and govern in their own languages according to their own laws (Jackson 1995: 5).
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Conflicts arise due to internal differences and the ever-persist problem of defining indigenous identity and authenticity in a pluralistic linguistic environment.
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Works Cited
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The effects of Spanish colonialism are both far-reaching and deeply embedded in both countries.
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One of the most prominent, lasting influences is that of the land grant system. Initially the Spanish government attempted to instate the encomienda system, in which a conquistador maintained direct control over the indigenous peoples and their land.
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This was in turn replaced by the repartimento; the natives were allowed to maintain control over their land and their laws but remained in every way the inferior of the Spanish, providing labor and taxes as demanded.
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The impoverished plight of the native populations was first recognized by the Marxist movements of the early 20th century.
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Those were the first to articulate the necessity of affirming the independent identity of the indigenous populations; previously, both the left and right maintained a belief in indigenous assimilation into the dominant Spanish culture.
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However, they also claimed that they were part of a larger group, the working class, whose poverty was a direct result of American imperialism; therefore they should join these new popular leftist movements in order to reorganize society into a worker-friendly one (Jackson 1995: 6-7).
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In Colombia this resulted in a civil war between the Liberal and Communist parties and Conservative party.
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A truce established between the Liberals and Conservatives failed to meet the demands of the Communists, who in turn sustained guerrilla attacks in response.
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Guerrilla warfare has since become a part of Colombian life; multiple groups maintain an ongoing presence, often stationing themselves in the remote mountainous villages often populated by various indigenous peoples.
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This process leads to the development of what can be broadly termed culture: a group of people joined by characteristics, traits, and beliefs comes to view themselves as sharing a distinct identity, discernible from that of those “outside” them, those who do not belong.
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This is similar to the situation of Guatemala: the government felt it needed to battle communism, an “armed and dangerous menace within”, plunging the country into civil warfare in the 1960s and continuing through the 1980s (Warren 1993: 25).
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This resulted in persecution against the Mayans, who make up about 60% of the overall population. In both counties, guerrillas were often associated with the native peoples; in many cases there were coalitions, but in others the guerrillas merely used the remote, inaccessible villages as hideouts.
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In Guatemala over 450 villages were destroyed, 200,000 Mayans were killed, and over 1 million more were displaced.
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The main guerrilla force was demilitarized in 1996 with the establishment of a peace accord (Warren 2002: 157-158).
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The growth in popularity and militarism of these popular leftist movements is intertwined with the development of the indigenous revitalization movements.
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By the 1970s the need to assert a cause separate from the general left was seen, and indigenous rights movements formed (Warren 2003: 174, Jackson 2002: 82).
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Central to these was the question of indigenous identity:
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Pan-Mayanism in particular has sought to organize itself around the Mayan language; despite local dialectical differences, it is seen as the unifying force behind the diverse Mayan people.
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Most still speak it in various forms, and efforts by Mayan linguists to standardize the language are producing a coherent, modern version of Maya (England 2003: 733, 739).
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Pan-Mayanism has succeeded in part due to its focus on issues of ethnicity; it largely avoids specifically political overtones, instead concentrating on the development of the reemerging Mayan culture (England 2003: 734).
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The popular left, however, continues to see the rhetoric of ethnic rights as a politically viable tool.
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The Pan-Mayan movement thus benefits from the lasting influence of the popular left on Guatemalan governmental policies without risking drawing the (often negative) attention of the government (England 2003: 735, Warren 2003: 181).
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Naturally this can be signaled by any number of things - clothing, food, lifestyle choices.
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This results in part from the ingrained influences of Spanish colonialism: Spanish continues to be associated with modernity and social mobility, whereas Maya is seen as backward and inferior.
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Pan-Mayan leaders therefore seek to develop a return to Maya as it was in its classical renaissance, a language of power and prestige (England 2003: 736).
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By doing so they hope to inculcate among the Mayan peoples a renewed sense of pride which will in turn reverse the dogma of Spanish superiority.
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Colombia, in contrast, has no unified "pan-Indian" sentiments; the indigenous population is a small fraction of the overall population, a fractured entity divided by region and language.
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Several competing and oftentimes conflicting indigenous rights advocacy groups have developed: the ONIC poses itself as the sole pan-Indian group, yet lacks legitimacy in the eyes of many indigenous peoples (Jackson 2002: 83, 85).
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One of the most dominant and easily noted factors is language.
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The CRIC, which focuses on language development and renewal, is primarily representative of the Nasa peoples (Jackson 2003: 82).
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It often stands in conflict with the AICO, its Guambiano counterpart (Jackson 2003: 83-84).
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Whereas the Mayanists benefit from a single main identity, those of Colombia must operate under historical differences between the various ethnic groups (Jackson 2002: 109).
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The Nasa and Guambiano have stood in opposition since pre-colonial times; therefore any coalition between the two advocacy groups is tenuous at best (Rappaport 2005: 2).
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This reflects a desire among the peoples themselves to maintain distinct ethnic identities, both from the Spanish Colombian population and each other.
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The command of a language, while not affording guaranteed access to the community which speaks it, is often the key to gaining entry.
| 1 |
In the 1990s the rhetoric of "cultural diversity" was picked up the Colombian media, and subsequently entered the consciousness of the greater metropolitan public, thereby cementing its place in Colombian society as necessity and further complicating the role of indigenous movements in gaining rights for indigenous peoples as a whole.
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A major success in the Colombian saga is the revamped constitution of 1991, which includes a section on indigenous rights, as the Congress which drafted it included representatives from native groups (Gow and Rappaport 2002: 57).
| 0 |
Central is a return to the old land grant system stemming from the repartimentos of the colonial era along with judicial sovereignty.
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They are ruled by the cabildo, local governing boards formed of community leaders (Gow and Rappaport 2002: 51-52).
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The return to customary law reflects a substantial shift in indigenous identity:
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no longer ruled by Western laws and discourse, communities are forced to assess the efficacy of their old judicial systems in light of the modern era.
| 1 |
In turn communal identity can be formed around a language; it is used as the focal point around which the group gathers.
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The oral nature of jurisprudence directly conflicts with the desire of the Colombian government to codify law, and questions of human rights violations are common as punishments are often corporal in nature (Gow and Rappaport 2002: 57-58).
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The Colombian constitution stands in stark contrast to the failure of the Guatemalan indigenous rights referendum of 1999.
| 2 |
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