A Decolonial Philosophy of Indigenous Colombia: Time, Beauty, and Spirit in Kamentsa Culture

The book explores the philosophical dimensions of the Kamentsa culture, examining how a native culture creates meaning through time, beauty, and spirit. It challenges colonial domination and embraces intercultural philosophical engagement, presenting the Kamentsa culture's frameworks and narratives.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 122 pages
Publication date: 15 May 2024
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

The Kamëntšáan indigenous culture, located in the southwest of Colombia, is a rich tapestry of philosophical experiences that shape its meaning. Time, beauty, and spirit are key elements that are explored in this book, which aims to understand how a native culture creates meaning. These living symbols, which have a historical and contemporary significance, are explored through the traditions of storytelling and dance, ritual, healing, and ceremony, as well as the fraught political histories of colonialism and land ownership. The author, who was raised within the Kamëntšá culture, weaves personal experience with philosophical insights and significance of the culture, presented through its own frameworks and narratives. The philosophical dimensions of Kamentsa culture are articulated and contextualized within a legacy of colonial domination by long-term Spanish and Catholic rule, which enacts the necessary separation of Kamentsa ideas from their representations through Catholic hermeneutic approaches. However, the book also embraces intercultural philosophical engagement, as the methodological approach is formed partly through some modern and contemporary Western thinkers as well as indigenous writers and figures like Carlos Tamabioy and N. Scott Momaday.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538148303