104
A. Ospina and A. López
[14]. Implicitly, they configure a visual and aesthetic narrative, which accounts for
the territorial and cultural transformations that have occurred throughout history and
constitute a part of the nation’s tangible and intangible heritage. This resignifies
popular cultures and dignifies collective memory through tradition and handwork.
2 Colombia
Colombia is a multicultural and biodiverse country, recognized for its multiethnicity.
This multiethnicity is in part communicated through handicrafts that represent an
exaltation to living memory and intercultural dialogue, which evokes tradition and
favors innovation as a sustainable and productive alternative.
According to the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), there
are 102 indigenous peoples in the country recognized by the Colombian State through
the Ethnic Directorate of the Ministry of Interior and Justice, the National Planning
Department and the National Statistics Department [45]. These peoples are mainly
located in 25 of the 32 departments that make up the national territory
2 (see Fig. 2).
In the country, the craftsmanship sector links more than 350,000 people who work
in handicrafts. They represent 15% of manufacturing employment. Additionally, 58%
of the population that works in handicrafts is dedicated to weaving and basketry, 13%
to woodworking, 8% to jewelry, 7% to ceramics and pottery, 5% to leatherwork, and
the remaining 9% represent other trades.
3
More than 114 species of plants
4 are used to extract natural fiber and carry out
basketry, weaving, textiles, and natural dyeing work. In Colombia, there are currently
more than ten lines of artistic development that express textual, creative, and physical
manufacturing of a new intellectual space. This space contains ancestral wealth that
is embodied in multiple ways of doing ancestral crafts [9].
The context of Colombian territorial violence, forced displacement, extreme
poverty in some departments of the country and the power play dictated by the dominant institutions, has created conditions of vulnerability, mainly for the Indigenous,
Afro-Colombian, Palenqueras, Roma, and Raizales communities.
5 These communities are the part of the immaterial wealth of the nation [43]. From colonization to
modernity, they have merged their knowledge and their intercultural development as
a source of creation of new platforms for disruptive and sustainable economies [48].
2 Accessed 25 June 2019 https://www.onic.org.co/noticias/2-sin-categoria/1038-pueblos.
3 Accessed 25 June 2019 https://www.semana.com/especiales-comerciales/articulo/turismoartesanal-una-mirada-al-patrimonio-cultural-colombiano/429530-3.
4 Accessed 22 June 2019 http://www.artesaniasdecolombia.com.co/PortalAC/C_noticias/fibrasvegetales-elemento-basico-de-las-artesanias_5079.
5 Afro-Colombians: people of African descent born in Colombia. Palenqueros: descendants of slaves.
Raizal: native population of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, descendants of the union
between Europeans and African slaves. Roma: ethnic minority group, descended from northern
India, recognized in Colombia, through decree 2957, of August 6, 2010, as part of the ethnic and
cultural diversity of Colombia.
A. Ospina and A. López
[14]. Implicitly, they configure a visual and aesthetic narrative, which accounts for
the territorial and cultural transformations that have occurred throughout history and
constitute a part of the nation’s tangible and intangible heritage. This resignifies
popular cultures and dignifies collective memory through tradition and handwork.
2 Colombia
Colombia is a multicultural and biodiverse country, recognized for its multiethnicity.
This multiethnicity is in part communicated through handicrafts that represent an
exaltation to living memory and intercultural dialogue, which evokes tradition and
favors innovation as a sustainable and productive alternative.
According to the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), there
are 102 indigenous peoples in the country recognized by the Colombian State through
the Ethnic Directorate of the Ministry of Interior and Justice, the National Planning
Department and the National Statistics Department [45]. These peoples are mainly
located in 25 of the 32 departments that make up the national territory
2 (see Fig. 2).
In the country, the craftsmanship sector links more than 350,000 people who work
in handicrafts. They represent 15% of manufacturing employment. Additionally, 58%
of the population that works in handicrafts is dedicated to weaving and basketry, 13%
to woodworking, 8% to jewelry, 7% to ceramics and pottery, 5% to leatherwork, and
the remaining 9% represent other trades.
3
More than 114 species of plants
4 are used to extract natural fiber and carry out
basketry, weaving, textiles, and natural dyeing work. In Colombia, there are currently
more than ten lines of artistic development that express textual, creative, and physical
manufacturing of a new intellectual space. This space contains ancestral wealth that
is embodied in multiple ways of doing ancestral crafts [9].
The context of Colombian territorial violence, forced displacement, extreme
poverty in some departments of the country and the power play dictated by the dominant institutions, has created conditions of vulnerability, mainly for the Indigenous,
Afro-Colombian, Palenqueras, Roma, and Raizales communities.
5 These communities are the part of the immaterial wealth of the nation [43]. From colonization to
modernity, they have merged their knowledge and their intercultural development as
a source of creation of new platforms for disruptive and sustainable economies [48].
2 Accessed 25 June 2019 https://www.onic.org.co/noticias/2-sin-categoria/1038-pueblos.
3 Accessed 25 June 2019 https://www.semana.com/especiales-comerciales/articulo/turismoartesanal-una-mirada-al-patrimonio-cultural-colombiano/429530-3.
4 Accessed 22 June 2019 http://www.artesaniasdecolombia.com.co/PortalAC/C_noticias/fibrasvegetales-elemento-basico-de-las-artesanias_5079.
5 Afro-Colombians: people of African descent born in Colombia. Palenqueros: descendants of slaves.
Raizal: native population of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, descendants of the union
between Europeans and African slaves. Roma: ethnic minority group, descended from northern
India, recognized in Colombia, through decree 2957, of August 6, 2010, as part of the ethnic and
cultural diversity of Colombia.