Palenque de San Basílio

Citizenship and Republican Traditions of a Maroon Village in Colombia

Bibliographic Data

ID12891024
AuthorsBernd Reiter (0000-0003-2764-4036, University of South Florida, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume11
Issue4
Pages333-347
Publication date2015-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Civil Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-8689 • E-ISSN: 1744-8697
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17448689.2015.1102428
OpenAlexW2218921183
LanguageCA
Citations received1
References cited7

This article presents the results of an empirical study conducted in Palenque de San Basílio in 2014. I advance two main arguments: First, that the Maroon villages settled by escaped slaves in northern Colombia were free city-republics similar to the European free city-republics described by Max Weber [1968. Economy and society. New York, NY: Bedminster Press]. The only difference that separates the Colombian from the European experience is that the model of citizenship created in those European cities became the model for citizenship in the emerging nation-states of Europe. In Colombia, in contrast, the white creole elites tried to end these experiments by way of war. Where they were not able to eliminate them, as in Palenque, they marginalized these communities. Step by step, they took away their political character, transforming them into cultural curiosities, ready to be consumed in the tourism market. The second argument is that Palenque de San Basílio has one of the densest and richest civic cultures in the Americas and the world. Inspired by the ancient Palenquero institution of the ‘kuagro’, all Palenqueros are actively involved in the political, social, and cultural life of their community

Argument (complex analysis · Art · Citizenship · Creole language · Ethnology · Maroon · Political science · Politics · Sociology · History and Politics in Latin America · Law

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