Dr. J. Marcela Chaves-Agudelo

I am a transdisciplinary researcher who engages the uniqueness, complexity, and completeness of Colombian indigenous peoples’ worldviews and epistemologies and how these are ‘woven’ in current contexts, particularly regarding the hybridisation of social practices as the defense strategies of cultures, natures, and territories. I approach this through the innovative agency that some of the 105 indigenous peoples in Colombia set up when facing neoliberal, global and/or modern policies and their implementation in their ancestral territories, as well as the internal armed conflict occurring in the territories they currently inhabit. This collective agency strives for the strategic hybridization of the ‘traditional’ with the ‘modern’ to ensure physical and cultural survival.

My PhD focused on these issues among the Andean Muisca-Chibcha and Pijao peoples’ communities, as well as the Amazonian A’I or Cofán people. Currently, I hold the grant for women in science as agents for peace with which I am analysing the admission to higher education of Iku or Arhuaco people in northern Colombia and its impact on territorial defense. . I have previous postdoctoral experience in projects regarding Murui and Yukpa peoples. I have worked also with Kankwamo and Bora peoples in Colombia, and I have participated in workshops with Guna, Naso Tjër Di, Ngäbe, Buglé, Bri bri, Emberá and Wounaan peoples in Panamá. Also, I am an occasional lecturer in the areas of human geography, ethnic-racial studies, socio-environmental conflicts at the National University of Colombia.

I was the director of research, innovation and social engagement of the National University of Colombia-La Paz Campus, and the social engagement coordinator of the same university at Amazonia campus. I was also a professional advisor of the Environment, Biodiversity, and Livelihood program at the Ministry of Science.

Publications

Chaves-Agudelo, J. M., Batterbury, S. P., & Beilin, R. (2015). We Live From Mother Nature: neoliberal globalization, commodification globalization, commodification, the “war on drugs”, and biodiversity in Colombia since the 1990s. SAGE Open, 5(3), 1-15. doi: 10.1177/2158244015596792 .

Chaves-Agudelo, J.M, Mahecha, D., & Souza, B. (2022). La sede Amazonia ante la pandemia de la COVID-19: estrategias de formación continua en regiones con precaria conectividad. Boletín ComUNAL: Conocimiento en movimiento para la construcción social. Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Enero – Junio 1 (26-30)

Chaves-Agudelo, J.M. (2021). No. 3. ‘Canto de la lagartija’ y ‘Canto del zancudo’, abuela Ernestina Izokueroke Geruyeki, dialecto Bɨnɨka del pueblo Murui (Uitoto), ad honorem. Serie Susurros de Madre. NOTIMANI Revista Institucional de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia – Sede Amazonia, Junio 48 (14).

Chaves-Agudelo, J.M. (2020). La Extensión del IMANI: una construcción permanente. NOTIMANI Revista Institucional de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia – Sede Amazonia, Noviembre 47 (6-7).

Chaves-Agudelo, J.M. (2020). No. 2. ‘Canto del picón como él arrullaba a sus hijos’ y ‘Canto de la danta’, abuela Rosa Maicuaco Nepayanuba del pueblo Pɫɫnemúna (Bora). Serie Susurros de Madre. NOTIMANI Revista Institucional de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia – Sede Amazonia, Septiembre 46 (21-23).

Chaves-Agudelo, J.M. (2020). No. 1. ‘Viene la lluvia’ y ‘Canto de la culebra dormilona’, abuela Flor Zafirekudo Attama, Dialecto Mɫnɫka del Pueblo Murui (Uitoto). Serie Susurros de Madre. NOTIMANI Revista Institucional de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia – Sede Amazonia, Mayo/Junio 44-45 (32-33).

Chaves-Agudelo, J.M. (2019). Armonización y sanación en torno al fuego y la palabra. NOTIMANI Revista Institucional de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia – Sede Amazonia, Abril 40 (12-13).

Engagement in Media

2024 Interview with the National University of Colombia News Agency, news article ‘Visibilizar al pueblo yukpa, crucial para integrarlo a las propuestas de territorial peacebuilding’ https://periodico.unal.edu.co/articulos/visibilizar-al-pueblo-yukpa-crucial-para-integrarlo-a-las-propuestas-de-construccion-de-paz-territorial

2023 Interview with the News Agency of the National University of Colombia, newspaper article ‘Conflicto arhuaco será investigado con recursos del Programa Orquídeas’ https://agenciadenoticias.unal.edu.co/detalle/conflicto-arhuaco-sera-investigated-with-resources-from-the-orquideas-programme

2021 Interview in the newspaper El Diario published in the newspaper article ‘”La tierra es lo más valioso que tenemos”: Alba González, farmer from Boyacá’ https://periodicoeldiario.com/la-land-is-the-most-valuable-thing-we-have-alba-gonzalez-campesinaboyacense/?fbclid=IwAR2mpe47PaMhAfAEK0-?q6aQJmW7vyyPm1y77lqCfBJotxIqW_GiwjiwD7OI