1 States, Movements, and the New Politics of Blackness in Colombia

States, Movements, and the New Politics of Blackness in Colombia and Brazil by Tianna Shonta Paschel A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology in the Graduate Division of the University of California Committee in charge: Professor Peter Evans, Chair Professor Taeku Lee Professor Raka Ray Professor Sandra Smith Professor Edward Telles Fall 2011 1 © 2011 by Tianna Shonta Paschel All rights reserved. 2 Abstract States, Movements, and the New Politics of Blackness in Colombia and Brazil by Tianna Shonta Paschel Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology University of California, Berkeley Professor Peter B. Evans, Chair The 1990s marked a dramatic shift throughout Latin America from constitutions and state policies that hinged on ideas of colorblindness and mestizaje to targeted policies for black and indigenous peoples. This study analyzes the role black social movements played in this shift in Colombia and Brazil, two countries where the state adopted the most comprehensive reforms for black populations in the region. It also analyzes the impact of achieving such reforms on black movements’ trajectories in the two countries. In so doing, I not only examine how black movements are shaped by the political context in which they emerge, but how they are able to reconfigure that political context in ways that ultimately reshape black movements themselves. Drawing on 18 months of fieldwork including in-depth interviews, archival analysis, and ethnographic methods, this study reveals new ways of understanding ethno-racial politics in these countries and offers insights about the relationship between movements and the state, as well as contestation within movements. Further, in examining how black movements seize upon changes in the global political field, appropriate global discourses into local struggles, and build transnational alliances, this work also challenges us to integrate the constant interplay between global and local processes into our analyses, especially when our aim is to understand social movement dynamics in the Global South. In the first part of the dissertation, I show how the rise of global policy norms around multiculturalism, and the Durban World Conference against Racism, provided political openings for black movements in Colombia and Brazil, respectively. However, I maintain that it was the interplay between such global factors and national political developments paired with strategic action by black movements that best explains states’ adoption of these historic reforms. Even so, while both countries adopted policies for black populations beginning in the 1990s, the dominant discourse around black rights in Brazil centers on notions of “the right to equality” and inclusion, whereas black issues in Colombia are largely framed in terms of the “right to difference”, culture, territory and autonomy. I suggest that these discursive differences have as much to do with how black populations were historically imagined by the state in the two cases, as they do with the different discursive tactics used by black movements when making demands on the state. 1 The second part examines the consequences of the shift to ethno-racial legislation on internal black movement dynamics in the two countries. More specifically, I analyze the nature of formal structures of political participation set up for black populations in response to movement pressure. I do this by examining how movement actors negotiate, inhabit and contest such spaces, revealing a reality of social movement institutionalization that is much more complex than the literature suggests. Whereas black movements in Brazil have been absorbed into mainstream politics within a relatively democratic state, black movements in Colombia have either been repressed violently or institutionalized into precarious alternative political structures leading to unique internal movement dynamics. In order to understand the relationship between structure and agency as well as ntional and international political processes in these two cases, I propose the conceptual framework of national and global political fields which I argue contributes both to the literature on race in Latin America and social movements. 2 Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to the women and men in Brazil and Colombia who have taken an unpopular stance, and risked their lives, in the pursuit of justice and dignity for black people, and for all people. i Table of Contents List of Figures iii List of Acronyms iv Acknowledgements vi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Part I: How Black Movements Reconfigure the Political Field Chapter 2: Blackness and the Hegemony of Colorblind Nationalism 19 Chapter 3: Seizing Changes in the Political Field, National and Global 39 Part II: Black Movement Dynamics in the New Political Field Chapter 4: State Logics of Incorporation 66 Chapter 5: Engaging with and Inhabiting the State 84 Chapter 6: Demanding Autonomy from the State 119 Chapter 7: The New Politics of Blackness in Colombia and Brazil 150 Bibliography 162 Appendix I: Methodological Discussion 171 ii List of Figures Figure 1: Divergent Patterns of Institutionalization Figure 2: Explaining the Shift to Ethno-Racial Legislation in Colombia and Brazil Figure 3: Commissions on Black Communities Structure in Colombia Figure 4: Black Movement Institutionalization in Colombia and Brazil Figure 5: 2010 Election Ballot for Special Seats for Black Communities in House of Representatives iii List of Acronyms Acronym English Portuguese/Spanish Country APN Black Pastoral Agents Agentes do Pastoral Negro Brazil Center for the Articulation Centro de Articulação de CEAP of Marginal Populations Populações Marginais Brazil Center for the Study of Labor Relations and Centro de Estudos de Relações de CEERT Inequality Trabalho e Desigualdades Brazil Collective of Black CEN Entities Coletivo de Entidades Negras Brazil CUT Unified Workers Central Central Única dos Trabalhadores Brazil Inter-Ministerial Working Grupo de Trabalho Group for the Valorization Interministerial para a GTI of the Black Population Valorização da População Negra Brazil Instituto de Pesquisa de Instituto for the Research of IPCN Cultura Negra Black Culture Brazil MNU Unified Black Movement Movimento Negro Unificado Brazil PCdoB Communist Party of Brazil Partido Comunista do Brasil Brazil PT Workers' Party Partido dos Trabalhadores Brazil Secretary for the Promotion of Racial Secretaria da Promoção da SEPPIR Equality Igualdade Racial Brazil Union of Blacks for UNEGRO Equality União de Negros pela Igualdade Brazil Peasant Association of the ACABA Baudó River Asociación Campesina del Baudó Colombia Peasant Association of the Asociación Campesina del Bajo ACADESAN Lower San Juan River San Juan Colombia Association of Displaced AFRODES Afro-Colombians Associación de Afrodesplazados Colombia National Association of Asociación Nacional de Alcaldes Municipalities with Afro- de Municipios con Población AMUNAFRO Colombian Populations Afrodescendiente Colombia Cimarron: National Movement for the Human Cimarrón: Movimiento Nacional Rights of Afro-Colombian de Derechos Humanos de CIMARRON Communities Comunidades Afrocolombianas Colombia National Conference of Afro-Colombian Conferencia Nacional de CNOA Organizations Organizaciones Afrocolombianas Colombia iv Consejo Comunitario Mayor de la Rural Association of the Asociación Campesina Integral COCOMACIA Atrato River del Atrato Colombia National Meeting of Afro- Colombian Youth and Encuentro Nacional de Jovenes y ENEUA University Students Estudiantes Afrocolombianos Colombia Organization of Popular Organizaciones de Barrios OBAPO Neighborhoods Populares Colombia Black Communities’ PCN Movement Procesos de Comunidades Negras Colombia v Acknowledgements Like any project of this magnitude, this dissertation reflects the support, work, contribution, and patience of many people. First and foremost, I would first like to thank the chair of my dissertation committee, Peter Evans. His constant encouragement and confidence in my work afforded me lots of autonomy to develop my own ideas and to take unexpected turns in my research journey. I am deeply grateful for Peter’s intellectual eclecticism and unique ability to connect the analytical dots helped me tremendously at every stage in this project. I hope to have finally reached a point where I can describe my own research (at least) as clearly and enthusiastically as he can. I would also like to thank Peter for being extremely accessible, a quality that should never be taken for granted in this line of work. As I took planes, trains and automobiles to different cities and towns throughout Colombia and Brazil, and as Peter trotted across the globe, he always answered my emails within a day, and usually within minutes, of my writing him. It was incredible, really. I deeply appreciate his commitment to mentoring me, and the patience with which he deciphered my steam-of-consciousness writing style. He pushed me to pave my own way as a scholar and inspired me to make my work relevant beyond the academy. Without the unwavering support, guidance and critical feedback of my other committee members – Raka Ray, Taeku Lee, Sandra Smith and Edward Telles – this dissertation would not exist. They each brought unique expertise of the different substantive areas to which this dissertation speaks. I am very grateful for Raka who believed in this project from the beginning and whose work on the women’s movement in India was an inspiration for

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