Cultural hybridization in three colombian indigenous productive organizations

Abstract

Cultural Hybridization (CH) aims to analyze the processes of intercrossing and cultural exchange highlighted in the constitution of modernism and in the modernization processes in Latin America. This research is relevant because the units of analysis for identifying the objectives of CH are three Colombian Indigenous Productive Organizations (IPOs), which were formed with traditional indigenous ideals and in the middle of the market dynamics of the organizational economy, then transformed their ideals and cultural aspects with modern Western administrative and cultural practices. The research is based in a qualitative methodology that includes the following techniques: participatory observation; semi-structured interviews; and analysis of native documents. This methodology is applied to investigate the three IPOs of the Nasa ethnicity in Colombia. The results are different for each case. Resistance and then acceptance occurred in the smaller IPO, while segregation and acceptance occurred in the larger and senior IPO. In conclusion, the three IPOs present a diversity of cultural characteristics that provide empirical evidence of the CH in different levels.