Rosero-Labbé,Claudia Mosquera (Editor) and Díaz,Ruby Esther León (Editor)
Format:
Book, Edited
Language:
Spanish
Publication Date:
2009
Published:
Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
832 p., Contains the main findings of research conducted between 2006 and 2008 entitled "affirmative action for blacks, Afro-Colombians, native islanders and palenqueros: a step towards ethnic-racial black reparative justice?"
The sexualisation of racially subordinated people has been linked to the exercise of power. This article focuses on an aspect of subordination related to the condition of being a servant, and the ‘domestication’ and ‘acculturation’ that domestic service implies in societies where black and indigenous people are often linked to ‘backwardness’. Perceived racial otherness, class subordination, gender, age and domesticated servitude together reinforce an erotic image of sexual availability, particularly in younger women.
Many Afro-Colombians have been displaced from their lands due to over 50 years of conflict between the government and other armed groups. This conflict has cost untold civilian lives and the Colombian government has done little to protect Afro-Colombians who attempt to stay on their lands in the face of violence. In short, Afro-Colombians got their 40 acres and a mule and their government is doing everything to take them back. In Colombia, signing a free trade agreement would effectively give the Colombia government the US seal of approval to continue to make economic decisions that do not account for the rights or livelihoods of Afro-Colombians. Despite the known impacts on Afrodescendants across the Americas a few Congressional Black Caucus Members have endorsed a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia. Passing a Free Trade Agreement despite the discriminatory practices of the Colombian government reveals the truth of the US government's policy: lip service to the protection of human rights but not at the detriment of US corporate interests or free market practices.