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Abstract or Description

From the moment an Indigenous girl is born, her identity is shaped by two intersecting categories: gender and ethnic belonging. These identity categories influence various aspects of her environment, upbringing, education, work and life.

As a member of the Wayuu people, I understand the challenges of being an Indigenous woman. The Wayuu Indigenous people are the largest Indigenous group in both Colombia and Venezuela. They inhabit the desert and coastal territory of La Guajira, a region shared between the two countries. However, for the Wayuu, it is a single, unique territory, encompassing the physical, biocultural and spiritual dynamics rooted in our Indigenous identity.

Through my work as a researcher, I have found a way to reconnect with my roots. Growing up far from my ancestral territory and having the privilege of accessing higher education made me deeply aware of the barriers that Wayuu Indigenous women face. In these academic spaces, Indigenous identity was absent, and representation was almost nonexistent. I have also experienced self-rejection—feeling like an outsider in non-Indigenous spaces yet belonging to both worlds at the same time. The obstacles that Indigenous women face in reaching their full potential led me to undertake this research: to express our own vulnerability in this new era and what we can do for the preservation of our culture and territory, as women, as an Indigenous people.

This research continues the practices of other Indigenous research methods by placing the voices of Indigenous people at its center. The methodology is grounded in focus groups conducted with Wayuu women in Colombia and Venezuela, specifically in the communities of Pasipamana, Oorokot, and Paraguaipoa. It includes interviews with Wayuu leaders and references literature on the cosmology of Indigenous peoples, as well as studies of discrimination and human rights abuses. Through these conversations, I identified forms of discrimination that intertwine and produce systems of violence affecting Wayuu women. The goal of this article is to explore how Wayuu Indigenous women stand before the world and confront the causes of discrimination and the power inequalities that reinforce forms of violence and oppression.

Publication Date

6-2025

Document Type

Report

Keywords

discrimination, indigenous people, violence, Venezuela, Colombia

Disciplines

Peace and Conflict Studies

Exploring Systems of Discrimination and Violence Against Wayuu Indigenous Women/E’rrajawaa Sucuaypaa Jutumaa tu’u muju’ulaca err’uin wayumuin Sumuin tu’u Wayuu Jiertkaa sumuin tu muilian Jain

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