Quillasinga indigenous women: Following footsteps, weaving the territory

Abstract

This article highlights the role of the Quillasinga indigenous women in the recovery and transmission of their own knowledge, as practices of survival and cultural vindication of the Quillasinga indigenous community in the Obonuco district of the municipality of Pasto (Nariño-Colombia). This visibility corresponds to the epistemological perspective adopted in the decolonial feminist debate, which posits the epistemic possibilities of female collectives based on the experiences of women as a place of resonance, interpellation and resistance against the culturally established mechanisms of oppresion in bodies, territories and epistemes. Through autoethnography, the article proposes the recognition of a disruptive way of articulating a counter-hegemonic bet, appealing to the discourse and knowledge of the Quillasinga indigenous community, that has historically been invisible, highlighting the role of leadership  played by women and their capacity for empowerment, in the search for better ways of organizing themselves as an indigenous collective to protect their rights, traditions and territory.