African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
247 p, Argues that development processes and social movements shape each other in uneven and paradoxical ways. She bases her argument on ethnographic analysis of the black social movements that emerged from and interacted with political and economic changes in Colombia's Pacific lowlands, or Chocó region, in the 1990s.
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.
