El mito de Claudio Becochi.

Abstract

The following text presents “the myth of Claudio Becochi” from the indigenous reservation “La Laguna”, in the Municipality of Caldono, Cauca, Colombia. The myth is presented as it was registered and narrated by the anthropologist Ícaro Cuervo, in the decade of 1980. Based on this narrative, this text reflects on the conditions in which the myth was told from the notes and field diaries of the same anthropologist. Finally, the article analyzes the myth in testimonies of members of the indigenous community, who accompanied Ícaro Cuervo during his fieldwork. The purpose of the article is to explore the conditions of anthropological fieldwork in the Cauca region in the 1980s. Based on the myth, the article reflects on the historical conditions of anthropological work and the political position of researchers in the interaction between indigenous struggles for territorial rights and anthropological research. The information presented was collected between 1999 and 2000, during a six-month field visit in the indigenous reservation of La Laguna, Siberia, in the Municipality of Caldono, Cauca, Colombia. Such field work was part of a research aimed at understanding the influence of anthropology on the indigenous movements and the influence of indigenous movements on anthropology. The reflection presented here was excluded in the results of that research.

Keywords:

historia de la antropología

resistencia indígena

etnología

Cauca

indígenas

Nasa

history of anthropology

indigenous resistance

ethnology

Cauca

indigenous peoples

Nasa

References

Chepe, J.R. (2008). El proyecto del maíz como alimento de la cultura Nasa. Etnias & Política, 9. 154-166. Recuperado de http://www.observatorioetnicocecoin.org.co/cecoin/files/etnias9WEB.pdf

Irving, W. (2006) [1819]. The legend of Sleepy Hollow and other writings. Selected with an introduction and notes by Peter Norberg. New York: Barnes & Noble. Recuperado de http://www.online-literature.com/irving/2846/