Seven women in The Bath of Remembrance: one narrator and three surrealistic indigenous women in the Amazon

Abstract

This study analyses the relationships between intercultural education, women’s painful memories, and collective leadership using an art installation, The Bath. Some of the processes and materials generated during the creation of the installation are presented. This experience of intercultural education in an Amazonian territory is part of a collective process involving a group of indigenous women as well as a team of students and professors, in which I work as a researcher. This experience enabled the generation of a reflection on the conditions for the creation of a collective indigenous female leadership, which is currently very incipient in the country.

Keywords:

• Indigenous women
• collective leadership
• intercultural education
• Amazonia
• art installation

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The Escuela Intercultural de Diplomacia Indígena (EIDI) began providing intercultural education diploma programs almost a decade ago. As of 2018, EIDI has completed 27 diploma programs in different regions of the country, including the Colombian Caribbean, the Amazon, the centre of the country, and inner-city areas. The teaching staff includes more than a dozen indigenous and non-indigenous professors. In total, approximately 4200 indigenous people have graduated from our traveling schools.

2 Elder Bernardita Uitota, from the indigenous school in Chorrera, Amazonia, is an educator in the region. She is 53 years old and a mother of three children. She currently participates in women’s co-ordination with the Amazon Indigenous Peoples Organization (OPIAC).

3 Waira Jacamanijoy is 47 years old, an indigenous artist, and a founding member of the Indigenous Women’s Organization in Caquetá (DCIW).

4 In 1977, the Third Congress of Indigenous People constituted a space for teaching and union for the river populations of Guainía, Guaviare, and Vichada. The first organization created was the Indigenous Organization of Guaviare and Vichada. In 1982, after the First National Indigenous People’s Congress, the Regional Indigenous Council of Guainía (CRIGUA) was established.

5 María Benítez, 50 years old, is an Amazonian teacher and founding member of the women’s movement in Amazonia.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Angela Santamaria

Angela Santamaria is full professor of Centro de Paz, Conflictos y Posconflictos at the Universidad del Rosario and Director of Intercultural Indigenous School of Diplomacy (EIDI) at the same institution. She studies law, philosophy and sociology of indigenous peoples movement in Colombia.