Abstract

TOCANCIPA FALLA, Jairo. Bartering: Tradition, Resistance, and Strengthening of the Local Economy within Indigenous Communities of the Department of Cauca. rev.estud.soc. [online]. 2008, n.31, pp.146-161. ISSN 0123-885X.

Bartering is a native practice that, while generally confined to remote periods, in recent decades has taken on a renewed significance in different contexts. In this paper, we present a case study where barter is practiced as part of the social memory of the Kokonuco people, an indigenous group in the department of Cauca, and among whom its meaning transcends the purely economic realm, something already suggested by the sociologists Marcel Mauss and Max Weber. We argue that the return to barter by this indigenous group is related to globalizing factors, established in treaties such as the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and the need to strengthen their struggle for self-determination and food autonomy as well as instill indigenous values among new generations. The paper concludes with some questions that offer future challenges to this indigenous group.

Keywords : Bartering; political culture; indigenous resistance; global/local economies.

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