Overcoming inequalities without challenging women’s loyalty to the indigenous community : case study in the Indigenous Community Nasa Kiwe, Colombia

Abstract: A large amount of resources are devoted by indigenous populations in Colombia to reestablish their political, cultural and territorial autonomy. There is no doubt about the commitment of indigenous men and women with such communal aims. However, the unequal power relations that women experience to participate in the social and political life of their communities lose attention in front of the discourses of these broader issues. Thus, the present thesis aims to understand how indigenous women reconcile the loyalty to their communities, while needing to bring up inequalities they experience. Fieldwork based on participant observation and interviews was carried out in the Indigenous Community Nasa Kiwe Tekh Ksxaw in the northern Cauca department, Colombia. Feminist and postcolonial theories guide this thesis to uncover the forms that inequalities take and the mechanisms that allow their reproduction. The study also explores the effects of dominant discourses on women´s agency in the struggle for gender equality. In addition, this thesis contributes to research on forms of discursive colonization, and study of organizing principles of the public and the private spheres.