Andean Indigenous Institutions and Llaqta Kamachiy (Community Governance)

• In Event: Native American and Indigenous Sovereingty

Abstract

The Llaqta kamachiy (community governance) is a form of governance that preceded colonialism and which, over time, enabled communities to resist coloniality. Situating this research project in the context of mining extractivism allows us to understand how Andean Indigenous communities have been able to resist and adapt historically and continue to do so in the present. Indigenous communal governance is based on their cultural norms and values. These include formal and informal arrangements to determine and deliberate the decision-making process and put it into practice. One of the characteristics of community governance is the presence of co-responsibility among the community members, transparency, and accountability to generate trust to solve collective needs and problems. This customary law is essential because it allows them to operate with their traditions and cultural values while being flexible and adaptable over time. Many Andean Indigenous communities were historically based on community self-reliance and cooperation built upon centuries-long practices of collective land use and grounded in the Andean ontologies of relation with the land. In order to understand the current Indigenous institutions and their forms of resistance, it is essential to analyze Andean philosophy and how this set of beliefs and values shapes the way communities organize and resist coloniality. Llaqta kamachiy provides Indigenous communities effective strategies and a degree of autonomy to resist external pressures such as mining companies.

Author

• Yojana Miraya Oscco, University of Toronto