ABSTRACT
This chapter contextualises the study. It locates it in the regions of Cauca and North Cauca and in the Nasa Indigenous reserves, particularly the Canoas Reserve. The chapter describes the Association of Indigenous Authorities of North Cauca (ACIN) and the Indigenous Cabildo of Canoas, who were Indigenous organisations participating in the study. The text outlines the resistance of these organisations, as well as the context and processes of colonialism, dispossession and oppression that have affected the Nasa Indigenous people. It briefly revisits the history of violence, conflict and peace processes relevant to North Cauca and to the Nasa. The subsequent focus is on mining, and its links not only to development discourses but to the armed conflict.
