The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Master's Theses Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects Fall 12-16-2011 Human Rights Education through Community Radio: The Promotion of Afro-Colombian Women’s Identity and Rights Mariana Lopez-Steele [email protected] Follow this and additional works at:https://repository.usfca.edu/thes Recommended Citation Lopez-Steele, Mariana, "Human Rights Education through Community Radio: The Promotion of Afro-Colombian Women’s Identity and Rights" (2011).Master's Theses. 10. https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/10 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please [email protected]. University of San Francisco Human Rights Education through Community Radio: The Promotion of Afro-Colombian Women’s Identity and Rights A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences Master’s Program in International Studies In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in International Studies By Mariana Lopez-Steele December 2011 Human Rights Education through Community Radio: The Promotion of Afro-Colombian Women’s Identity and Rights In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS in INTERNATIONAL STUDIES by Mariana Lopez-Steele December 2011 UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO Under the guidance and approval of the committee, and approval by all the members, this thesis project has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree. Approved: ________________________________________________ _____________ Thesis Advisor: Dr. Susan Roberta Katz Date ________________________________________________ ______________ Academic Director: Dr. Anne Bartlett Date ________________________________________________ ______________ Dean of Arts and Sciences Date ii Table of Contents Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................. iv Abstract ............................................................................................................................... v Chapter I: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Background ............................................................................................................. 4 Radios Ciudadanas: A Space for Democracy in Harmony with Diversity. ...... 6 Red Nacional de Mujeres Afrocolombianas, Kambirí. .................................... 8 Buenaventura: Human Rights Education in the Midst of Conflict. .................. 9 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................... 11 Definition of Terms............................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 17 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 17 Human Rights Education and Women’s Empowerment ...................................... 18 Radio as a Tool for Human Rights Education ...................................................... 23 “Constructing” an Afro-Colombian Women’s Identity ........................................ 29 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 37 Chapter 3: Data and Discussion of Findings..................................................................... 39 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 39 Kambirí: The Radio Project .................................................................................. 42 Promoting Afro-Colombian Women’s Cultural Identity and Rights .................... 46 Chapter 4: Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................... 65 Appendices ........................................................................................................................ 71 References ......................................................................................................................... 75 iii Acknowledgement I first want to thank my husband for all his love and patience for the past six months while I carried out this research project. Thanks to my parents, Rafael López and Maria Ines Alvarez, who made this research project possible. Thanks to my aunts, Mary and Clarita Alvarez, who warmly hosted me in their house for two months in Bogotá and provided me with great motivational support during this time. To Dan and Lynne, thanks for always showing interest in my project and helping make it better with your advice. Also, to my grandparents, Dario Alvarez and Ines Uribe, who are not anymore in this world, but planted in me the seed of social justice and solidarity. I am deeply grateful to Viviana Gamboa, who despite the fact that we didn’t know each other before June, introduced me to the topic of Afrocolombianidad and who gave me all the necessary tools, including valuable contact information, to start this project. Thanks to Aura Dalia Caicedo Valencia for letting me enter the world of La Red Nacional de Mujeres Afrocolombianas, Kambirí. Liliana Ramirez thanks for inviting me to Quibdó, and for supporting this project by sharing your knowledge. Also, I want to thank Emiliana Bernard, Emperatriz Arango, Rosa Helena Ruiz Echeverri, and Antonia Ramirez Mosquera for offering their time to answer my questions. I am greatly thankful to my advisor, Dr. Susan Roberta Katz, for always being interested in my project, always answering my questions, and suggesting interesting research literature that greatly contributed to enriching this project. And, last but not least, thanks to the MAIS program, Dr. Bartlett, Professors, and amazing classmates for contributing to my knowledge and for making the past year an unforgettable experience. iv Abstract In 1991, for the first time in history, the Constitution recognized that Colombia is a multiethnic and culturally diverse country. Since then, a number of organizations have emerged to promote and reinforce the right to difference of the Afro-Colombian ethnic community, as well as to claim and defend their rights. This thesis project presents how La Red Nacional de Mujeres Afrocolombianas, Kambirí, a national network of Afro- Colombian women, has used community radio as a tool for imparting Human Rights Education to women through the promotion of their cultural identity. To accomplish this goal, I analyzed the radio programs created by Kambirí that were broadcasted in the year 2010 in the city of Buenaventura, Colombia. This research paper answers the following questions: (a) how is radio used as a tool for Human Rights Education in promoting Afro- Colombian women’s identity and rights? and (b) how are local cultural elements used as a medium to communicate universal concepts of human rights? v 1 Chapter I: Introduction Since 1991, when the Constitution recognized for the first time in history that Colombia is a multiethnic country, a large number of national and international organizations have emerged to claim and defend the ethnic, political, social, territorial, and economic rights of Afro-Colombiansi. The promotion of an Afro-Colombian identity based on race, ancestry, and history, as well as the defense of the cultural assets of black Colombians, has been a priority in the agenda. In particular, women’s organizations working parallel with the larger black social movement have participated actively in this process by informing women about their rights. Therefore, the following research paper will answer the following questions: (a) how is radio used as a tool for Human Rights Education (HRE) in promoting Afro-Colombian women’s identity and rights? and (b) how are local cultural elements used as a medium to communicate universal concepts of human rights? Afro-Colombian communities have been subjected to historic discrimination, exclusion, violence, and the forced removal of their territories. Rich in biodiversity and natural resources, the Pacific Region of Colombia is a battlefield in which competing interests for natural resources have brought guerrilla, paramilitaryii, and multinational corporations to this territory. Women, in particular, have taken a leadership role in the defense of the rights of the Afro-Colombian population as they are able to organize more easily and with less risk of being targeted or assassinated, than men (Zill de Granados, 2011). Inspired by the struggles of the Afro-Colombian community, especially the women, in June 2011, I arrived in Colombia to conduct research on how Human Rights 2 Education is used to transmit rights information to Afro-Colombian women in the Pacific Region. I was also compelled to study why and how local culture is used as a pedagogical tool to inform women about universal concepts of human rights. As I began to learn about the different organizations working on the promotion of Human Rights Education and culture to women, I encountered La Red Nacional de Mujeres Afrocolombianas, Kambirí. This organization, which has engaged in numerous human rights training programs for Afro-Colombian women across the country for more than 10 years, began in 2010 using radio as a mechanism to impart Human Rights Education. With the training and financial support from the Ministry of Culture to develop radio programs of interest to the community, Kambirí used community radio stations to communicate with the audiences in Buenaventura, Florida, Túmaco, and Cartago, four cities located in the Pacific Region of Colombia. These programs, which accomplished an educational and entertainment purpose for the community but especially for women, were broadcasted three times per week for 18 weeks in 2010. Therefore, in this research project I evaluate how Kambirí radio programs informed women about their rights through the promotion of their cultural identity, specifically in the city of Buenaventura, Colombia in 2010. Due to the rich content and quality of the radio programs, I consider that Buenaventura deserves unique attention throughout this research project. To accomplish my research goal, I listened to and analyzed 31iii radio programs created by Kambirí women in the city of Buenaventura. I also conducted semi-structured interviews with members of the organization and experts in the topic of community radio and Afro-Colombian ethnic and cultural identity. I did this in order to complement, gain 3 background, and give context to the radio programs. Furthermore, I read a number of books and research projects to gain familiarity of historical and current events of the Pacific Region, specifically Buenaventura. The development of this research project is timely and relevant, as Human Rights Education has gained increasing attention in recent years. The international community, national governments, academia, social movements, and non-governmental organizations consider HRE a tool for individual and collective empowerment, social change, development, and conflict resolution. In addition, HRE is also acknowledged as being a mechanism to eliminate racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination. In the specific case of Colombia, a country that has suffered through decades of human rights violations, a research project of this nature is useful to organizations seeking innovative ways to impart HRE. However, in the near future it is imperative that national and international governments, organizations and movements encourage the development of additional research projects and case studies that contribute to enriching the field of Human Rights Education. If new theories, as well as innovative methodologies and strategies, are introduced, human rights educators will have better tools to successfully contribute to the creation of societies in which human rights are valued and respected. In the remaining pages of Chapter 1, I provide background information that is useful to understand the context in which Kambirí community radio programs emerged, provide a theoretical framework for this research study, and define key terms. Chapter 2 reviews existing research literature related to Human Rights Education, community radio, 4 and Afro-Colombian cultural identity. Chapter 3 presents the data collection methods and results. Finally, Chapter 4 offers conclusions and recommendations. Background In 1991, for the first time in history, the Constitution recognized Colombia as a multiethnic country. Despite the fact that 10.6% of the population is Afro-Colombian and 3.4% of the population is indigenousiv, Colombia had stood for hundreds of years as an ethnically homogenous country. But in 1991, indigenous populations and the Afro- Colombian community lobbied the National Constitutional Assembly to declare Colombia as a multicultural country. Although indigenous populations had received territorial rights in 1890 in the form of cabildos, the Constitution mandated the adoption of Law 70 in 1993 (the Law of Black Communities), which was the first and most important achievement in terms of ethnic, cultural, and territorial rights for Afro- Colombians. Law 70 stipulated the protection of the territorial rights and cultural identity of Afro-Colombians, as well as the role of the state in guaranteeing the socio-economic development of the communities living in the Pacific Basin of Colombia. As Velez (2011) states, since 1993 “the Colombian government has assigned collective titles to more than five million hectares of land in black communities. Between 1996 and 2008, a total of 156 communities received collective land titles benefiting more than 62,000 families in six departments of the country” (p. 199). This was the first time Afro-Colombian communities in rural areas of the Pacific Region received titles for their territories, despite the fact that Afro-Colombians had inhabited and engaged in economic activities in this area for hundreds of years.