Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Reliquias y antigüedades de los indios. Precursores del americanismo en Colombia

1997; Society of Americanists; Volume: 83; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3406/jsa.1997.1669

1957-7842

Roberto Pineda Camacho,

Indigenous Cultures and History

Indian reliquias and antiguedades : Precursors of the americanism in Colombia This essay taces, through the most significant writings of chroniclers, collectors, travelers, ethnologists and other americanists, the principal stages of the development of cultural anthropology in Columbia, as well as the formation of a Columbian identity from the 16th century until 1941. In the earliest documents, the opposition between the Caribe Indians of the Lowlands and the Chibchas of the Andes delineated the principal ideological contours of imaginary identity construct. During the second half of the 18th century, the construction of a national conscience became rooted in Chibcha civilization. In the 19th century, even though the indigenous peoples were considered to be backward, the idea of a Muisca kingdom, comparable to those of the Aztecs and the Incas, emerged. A cultural project vaunting half-caste society took hold, superseding alternative discourses. But it was not until the 20th century that the standing of native populations was raised through the influence of indigenist movements and of ethnology. The foundation of the National Ethnological Institute in 1941 by P. Rivet and G. Hernandez de Alba confirmed the consolidation of a modern americanism and established the basis for training professional Colombian anthropologists.