UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Community Oriented Radio Stations and Indigenous Inclusion in Cauca, Colombia. Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9034814h Author Cortes, Diego Mauricio Publication Date 2017 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Community Oriented Radio Stations and Indigenous Inclusion in Cauca, Colombia. A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Communication by Diego Mauricio Cortes Committee in Charge: Professor Daniel Hallin, Chair Professor Natalia Roudakova, Co-Chair Professor Robert Horwitz Professor John McMurria Professor Nancy Postero 2017 ii The Dissertation of Diego Mauricio Cortes is approved and is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Co-Chair Chair University of California, San Diego 2017 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page……………………………………………………………………. iii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………….... iv List of Figures…………………………………………………………………... v Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………..... vi Vita………………………………………………………………………………. viii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………... ix Introduction……………………………………………………………………….. 1 Chapter 1: ACPO’s Radio Sutatenza in Cauca....……………………………….. 28 Chapter 2: The Rise of Community Radio……………….……………………… 77 Chapter 3: Public Interest Indigenous Radio Stations………...….……………… 96 Chapter 4: Evangelical Radio Stations……...…………………………………… 158 Chapter 5: Institutional Boureocratization and Indigenous Media Law ……….... 209 Chapter 6: Returning to the Roots: Indigenous Epistemology and Communication in Times of Inclusion……………………………….. 259 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….. 289 Bibliography………………………………………………………………….…... 303 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 6.1: The Square Cross at Puma Punko Tiwanaku………………………….. 270 Figure 6.2: Tawa Panqua..…………………………………………………………. 272 Figure 6.3: Infograma……………………………………………………………… 279 Figure 6.4: The Making……………………………………………………………. 279 Figure 6.5: Displaying our Work………………………………………………...... 280 Figure 6.6: Origen/Chu Kutrik Amtruiwan……………………………………....... 283 Figure 6.7: Unidad/Lata Lata……………………………………………………… 284 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have to acknowledge my gratitude to various people who helped me during all these eight years at UCSD – two as a MA and six as PhD student. Special thanks to all members of my committee – Dr. Hallin, Dr. Roudakova, Dr. Postero, Dr. Horwitz, and Dr. McMurria – who supported me through this long academic process. I want to thank the members of the Misak community from Cauca, their authorities, the elders, and the staff of the radio station Namuy Wam. They opened me the doors allowing me to carry a two year fieldwork in their territory. Without their support, it would be impossible to complete this dissertation. Very warm and huge gratitude to Rosa Maria Montano, John Montano, and Liliana Camayo. Without their support, I would never ever be able to do and learn all the things I did during my amazing staying at the Misak territory. Even though it would be impossible to mention everyone who helped me during this extensive process, I want to thank the Misak authorities, especially to Mama Liliana Pechene and all people who were part of the 2014 and 2015 Cabildos, the professors Maria Teresa Fidji, Victor Daniel Bonilla, and Maria Victoria Polanco, the members of the radio division of the Ministry of Culture, my aunts Constanza, Amparo, my mother Olga, and my brother Andres. Special thanks to Yuranni Mena, my emotional support during the most difficult moments of this project. My educational experience at UCSD would not have been possible without the generous financial assistance received by this institution and the Communication vi Department, the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, and the International House at University of California, San Diego. I also want to thank to external organizations, such as the Hispanic Scholarship Foundation, Sigma Xi, and Social Science Research Council. vii VITA 2008 Bachelor of Arts, University of California, San Diego 2010 Master of Arts, University of California, San Diego 2017 Doctor of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego PUBLICATIONS Cortes, D. M. (2016). “Representación indígena en el periodismo colombiano. El Cómo y el Porqué”. Jangwa Pana, 15(1), 88-104. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Communication Studies Studies in Media Studies Professors Daniel Hallin, Natalia Roudakova and John McMurria Studies in Indigenous Peoples and Politics Nancy Grey Postero Studies in Media and Religion Professor Robert Horwitz viii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Community Oriented Radio Stations and Indigenous Inclusion in Cauca, Colombia. by Diego Mauricio Cortes Doctor of Philosophy in Communication University of California, San Diego, 2017 Professor Daniel Hallin, Chair Professor Natalia Roudakova, Co-Chair For more than 50 years, Catholic and evangelical missionaries, the State, international aid agencies and indigenous organizations have widely used radio stations as tools for promoting literacy, introducing new agricultural techniques, evangelization, and protection of indigenous languages within indigenous societies in Colombia. Yet, we do not really know the impact of these radio stations on the indigenous people’s political, social, and cultural life. ix This dissertation assesses the impact of community radio, focusing on two of the most politically involved indigenous communities of Colombia – the Misak and the Nasa people from the Cauca region. In addition to founding the Colombian indigenous movement, the Misaks and the Nasas have long been involved in community oriented media projects, including the Catholic Church’s Radio Sutatenza, community radio stations, and evangelical radio stations. My hypothesis is that these radio stations have been fundamental tools to promote indigenous inclusion into the modern Colombian society. This process of indigenous inclusion, however, has brought new challenges for indigenous people, including dependency on external funding, corruption, and bureaucratization of indigenous organizations. As a response, indigenous grassroots are currently proposing other communication practices and theories in order to resist the contradictions brought by this modernization process. x Introduction The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the role that indigenous communication, especially community oriented radio stations, have played in the process of indigenous people’s inclusion in Colombia. Since the 1940s, the Colombian government, the Catholic and evangelical Churches, and international donors, such as USAID, have launched and supported radio projects with the aim of “modernizing” disenfranchised sectors of the population. Even though these communicative programs have resulted in positive results for the indigenous political process developed during the last 40 years, this dissertation shows that the overall contributions of these radio stations are very paradoxical. During the same period of time when community oriented radio stations have been operating, the relationship between indigenous people – one of the main populations targeted by these radio initiatives – and the State has dramatically changed. From being considered as subjects in needed of external tutelage, the indigenous people are currently enjoying a series of legal privileges, including the right of territorial autonomy and self-governance within their territories. These privileges are based on recognition of Colombia as a pluri-cultural and multi-ethnic nation by the 1991 Constitution. This political inclusion, however, has brought new social and economic challenges for indigenous communities. This dissertation aims to examine the role of three radio projects – Radio Sutatenza, State funded community radio stations, and evangelical radio stations – in the political process that resulted in the inclusion of indigenous people as subjects of 1 2 rights for first time in Colombian history. Through this analysis, I am not only discussing the contributions and limitations of community oriented radio stations. Perhaps more important, this dissertation aims to contribute to the understanding of the State’s, the Catholic, and evangelical churches’, and international agencies’ visions about “indigenous inclusion” and the subsequent response of the indigenous movement. For this study, I am focusing on the cases of the Misak and, to a lesser extent, the Nasa people from the Cauca region – two of the pioneers of indigenous mobilization as well as community media practitioners in Colombia. Before introducing the content of each chapter, this introduction starts with a discussion of the theoretical framework from which this entire project is inspired. The main premise of this thesis is that “indigenous” people is a constructed category, which since its invention at the moment of the Spanish arrival in 1492 has oscillated between politics of exclusion and inclusion from the Spanish colonial administration and the subsequent independent Colombian nation-State. Through this view, it is possible to see the flaws and contradictions of the idea of inclusion, and to contribute to the proposing a political projection that goes beyond the boundaries of the exclusion-inclusion dichotomy. Following this discussion, the incidence of the 1991 Colombian constitution into the indigenous people’s lives is discussed. This constitution