Reconciling Legal Pluralism with Equal Citizenship: Colombian Multiculturalism and the Recognition of Wayú Customary Law

Abstract

In this thesis I connect Uribia’s specific context of legal pluralism with a certain political philosophical understanding of multiculturalism; in which multiculturalism stands for the political accommodation of cultural difference, that is aimed at the greater (democratic) inclusion of a minority group within the wider society. More specifically, this research is focussed on the official recognition of Wayú customary law and what this means to indigenous Uribians and their relationship with the state.

Based on fieldwork in Uribia, Colombia, the Wayú legal system will be described (in relation to the national legal order). In Uribia we can see processes of legal hybridization take place, in which the national legal order and that of the Wayú are mixing and influencing each other. These processes have an impact on the ways (multicultural) citizenship is experienced and perceived.