ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the tensions between Indigenous self-determination, on the one hand, and supposed “development” interventions and impositions, on the other, amongst the Kogui peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. This dynamic is examined by juxtaposing the sustainable modes of socio-ecological and spiritual governance of the ancestral territory of the Kogui, with past and continued encroachment on land and sacred sites through land-grabbing and extractivism, attempted assimilation, and unsustainable tourism. To counter-balance these externally driven pressures, the chapter explores what the Kogui have to say with regard to “development”, highlighting the rights they have to their own sustainable and alternative pathways. The chapter concludes with some recommendations on how to tackle current complexities whilst supporting the socio-environmental rights and self-determination of the Kogui. Overall, the chapter takes a critical perspective to the broader notion of development, and demonstrates the blatant oxymoron inherent in the notion of “sustainable economic development” as it is framed in and imposed by the global political and economic system onto biocultural settings like the Sierra Nevada, where it is neither fitting nor welcome. The insights presented in this chapter are of relevance also to other Indigenous peoples elsewhere and in similar circumstances.
