A New Class of Men: Emberá Dobidá Leaders in Colombia Since the 1980s

Discover the second session of the 2025–2026 Americanist Anthropology seminar: "A New Class of Men: Emberá Dobidá Leaders in Colombia Since the 1980s."

"Based on ethnographic research conducted between 2017 and 2019 in Colombia with Emberá Dobidá families recently settled in Medellín, this presentation examines how new migratory practices are transforming Emberá egalitarian philosophy. As in other Indigenous societies, many researchers have noted a strong link between migration and egalitarianism: individuals or entire families often left their communities when cooperative relations with others broke down.

This study, however, analyses how two contradictory but interdependent phenomena have destabilised Emberá cooperation. On the one hand, Colombian multicultural policies since the 1980s have promoted sedentarisation, leading to the establishment of official, permanent, and delimited villages. On the other hand, urbanisation—often forced in the context of armed conflict and reinforced by the country’s geographic and racial hierarchies—has increased mobility and displacement.

The presentation focuses in particular on a new class of Emberá leaders who migrate to cities before returning to govern the villages, generating what my interlocutors call “envy” [envidia] among other Emberá Dobidá. It also explores the growing differences between Emberá men and women and the strengthening of patriarchal tendencies as egalitarianism declines. This analysis contributes to classical studies on migration in egalitarian societies while integrating a gender-sensitive perspective."

Agathe Faure (London School of Economics)