Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

During the last years, Colombia has put an effort in formally achieving higher levels of equality in
the country which is particularly visible through the National Development Plan (2018-2022). The
spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, magnified those inequalities that the Plan is
supposed to challenge by showing not only their ubiquity but the mechanisms through which they
can be exacerbated in crises situations.
By drawing on feminist postcolonial theory and implementing discourse analysis to engage with
policy and public discourse that include concerns for Colombian indigenous women under the
pandemic, the purpose of this study is to contribute to discussions on how politics (in this case
related to the pandemic) can reinforce gendered and ethnicized oppressions. In order to develop this
qualitative study, empirical material was collected from eleven written and oral sources issued by
international organizations, research institutes, national and local indigenous organizations, and
indigenous representative bodies.
Three main problematic discourses arise from the analysis: the portraying of indigenous women
as passive subjects which contrasts with the description of indigenous peoples as active in the face
of the challenges brought by the pandemic; the overwhelming focus on the vulnerability of
indigenous women thereby contributing to normalizing their view as powerless and voiceless, even
in sources aiming to address gendered power differentials; and finally, a narrative of inclusion in
decision-making processes that appears to potentially become double folded: on one hand, it can
foster inclusion, on the other, if not coupled with institutional change, it can lead to the reproduction
of those oppressions it aimed to challenge.