Nasawe’sx Ya’yu’çenxi (Weaving Our Own Justice): Justice From Nasa Ways Of Knowing And The Ancestral Body Of Authority In Sa’th Tama Kiwe, Cauca, Colombia

Event details

Why do the recovery and revitalisation of the Neehwe’sx Kwekwe (the Nasa people's ancestral body of authority) and the practice of Ya’yu’çenxi fxi’zenxi (broadly translated here as ‘justice’ aimed at restoring harmony) remain such urgent tasks? What is meant by Yu’çenxi (the process of remediation)? And what does it truly mean to conduct research from and with the territory?

These questions form the heart of this seminar. We will share lived experiences from our collective journey through Crianza y Siembra de Sabidurías y Conocimientos (CRISSAC; the Nurturing and Sowing of Wisdoms and Knowledges) - an approach to research deeply rooted in life. In this process, Nasa communities and authorities from the Sa’th Tama Kiwe Territory collaborated with Atxasawe’sx (researchers), KiweThê’ (spiritual authority), and an accompanying researcher from UAIIN (the Indigenous University of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca), alongside a researcher from the University of Cambridge.

Through this collective "walking", we have woven together experiences, knowledges, and shared analyses. By sensing, thinking, and acting across different spaces of communal life, we have used observation and listening to deepen our understanding of the "disharmonies" currently affecting families, authorities, and the territory itself.

This seminar presents the insights emerged from this long-term collaboration. It aims to highlight ways of preventing, orienting, and remediating the disharmonies and harms that have intensified within a continuum of violence. These three paths are central to restoring balance and represent the core responsibilities of the Neehwe’sx Kwekwe, which is itself founded upon the family unit. Within this context, Ya’yu’çenxi fxi’zenxi is reaffirmed as the essential foundation for harmonious coexistence among all beings inhabiting the territory.

This project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

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