Public policies of afrocolombian education: the art of escaping the right of peoples

Abstract

The article deals with describing the moments in which the Colombian State has legislated for the peoples of African ancestry, especially in the matter of educational rights. It will also show that the specific laws for these communities in a contradictory manner do not enjoy a promotion strategy on the part of the State and on the contrary have been naturalized in a double game of inclusion-denial, that is, the right of blacks is part of the normativity but it does not apply in practice. It is postulated here that the inclusion of the Afro communities to the State's educational policies responds to a demobilization strategy and an attempt to close the protest processes. However, despite the colonial and racist vision that permanently marks the performance of Colombian elites, since the nineteenth century groups of black intellectuals have emerged that have significantly influenced the processes of claiming an education aimed at revitalizing the social, political and cultural constructions of Afro-Colombians. The opening to the cultural diversity of the 1991 Political Constitution is read here as a strategy of State multiculturalism.