1. Equal but Different: An Introduction

I In some cases, the granting of rights came before the consolidation of the independence process. This might be the case for the Constitution of Cartagena promulgated in 1812, which, despite not eliminating slavery, offered the possibility of equality of rights and duties to black and white (free) people before the independence of Nueva Granada (present-day Colombia) had been secured (Kalmanovitz 2008; Múnera 2005).

This explanation of the patterns of racial composition and miscegenation in the various Colombian regions draws on authors such as McFarlane (2002), Appelbaum (2017), Gutierrez de Pineda (1968), Múnera (2005), Wade (1991), and Wade (1993a).

Moreover, these racial criteria prevailed in Colombia for more than a century until the constitution of 1991 See España-Eljaiek et al. (2023) and Harguindeguy (2010).

Gutiérrez Azopardo (1980) for instance describes that the palenques or settlements of fugitive slaves were around the whole territory of current Colombia. Nevertheless, the author catalogues as the most known palenques, e.g., La Ramada (Santa Marta and Riohacha), La Matuna (Cartagena), S. Miguel Catendo Gonzalo (Colosó–Tolú), or Sta Cruz de Mazinga (Santa Marta). That is, many of them were in the current Colombian departments of Bolívar or Magdalena in the Caribbean region.

Múnera (2005) and Flórez (2023 pp. 32–33) mention that, since the early nineteenth century, intellectuals such as Francisco José de Caldas introduced the geo-determinism and probably the “hegemonic discourse” of Colombia as an “Andean Republic” (Múnera, 2005, p. 71). The authors explain that Caldas adopted the pseudo-scientific debate that there are superior and inferior geographical characteristics that affect people, in turn, promoting the stereotype of superior and inferior territories in the country. Specifically, for Caldas the Andean climate and altitude signified order, the domain of the law, superiority, and civilization, in contrast, the tropical and low areas were inhabited by mulattos meaning inferiority, disorder, and backwardness (Múnera, 2005).

For example, Law 89 of 1890 (“to determine the form in which savage people who become civilized people should be governed”), Law 28 of 1909 (“to favor communities against the uprising of indigenous savages”), Law 14 of 1912 (“assistance to the civilization of indigenous people”), or Law 64 of 1914 (“measures to reduce and civilize some indigenous tribes”). These populations and territories were racialized as barbarian or uncivilized in order to legitimize explicit colonialism over them (Múnera 2005, see also España-Eljaiek et al. (2023), Harguindeguy (2010), and Hoffman and Centeno (2003)).

We can say that, during this time, the racial exclusion of the Afro-descendant population not only “took on its most informal” character, it also acquired “geo-spatial” connotations (España-Eljaiek 2019, p. 135).

The precepts were “to be civilized Latin American should turn white” (Andrews 2007, p. 197). Therefore, the elites made strong efforts in becoming “white republics”, of course, public policies included (Andrews, 2007, p. 197).

Both liberal and conservative elites adopted this project during the 19th and mid-twentieth centuries. In this respect, first, Flórez (2023) explains how by the second half of the nineteenth century, José María Samper, a member of the Andean elite and liberal, used geo-racial determinism to justify the economic expansion over the low areas of the Magdalena River, a territory of hot climate and, therefore, associated with the stereotypes of non-whiteness. Second, during the late nineteenth century the conservative elite held the presidency implementing the political program of Regeneration. The main representatives of the Regeneration are Rafael Núñez and Miguel Antonio Caro. They reinforced the geo-racial imaginaries adopting the precept that the Colombian national identity should be based on the Spanish heritage (Flórez 2023). Indeed, one of the main outcomes of the Regeneration is the constitution of 1886, which has as the main author Miguel Antonio Caro, an “admirer of the Spanish heritage” (Bushnell, 2020, p. 209). Arocha et al. (2007) explicitly mention that the constitution of 1886 demanded the whitening of the Colombian nation invisibilizing racial diversity. Third, Melo (1989, p. 8) refers to the Regeneration as the “White Republic”. According to the author, at the time, there was an issue due to the inexistence of a national identity. Given this, some intellectuals proposed that there would be a Colombian nation if the society is whitened with the support of both the national and regional elites, therefore, it should be the project of the nation (Melo, 1989). Finally, Flórez (2023) explains that the Conservative leaders ended up distancing themselves from the precepts of scientific racism for reasons linked to their Catholicism. However, the author states that the Spanish heritage (and biological determinism) gained momentum during the Conservative hegemony of the first decade of the twentieth century and the liberal republic (1930–1946).

Specifically, the literature shows that in societies with greater levels of racial heterogeneities, their members fail in reaching collective agreements for common progress such as the decisions on the supply of public goods and services necessary for social and economic prosperity (Frankema, 2009; Miguel & Gugerty, 2005).

The National Territories were in turn subclassified into intendencies and commissaries. There were no significant differences between intendencies and commissaries until Law 2 of 1943, which established that the intendancies had more administrative responsibilities for local issues. Similarly, after this Law, an intendency should have at least 25,000 inhabitants, two municipalities, and 120,000 COPS (Colombian pesos) in revenues (see for instance Arriaga Andrade, 1944b and Rausch 2014).

For example, the constitution of 1863 states “special law” for some territories of Colombia which were later (mainly) Intendencies and Commissaries (National Territories). Other examples of limitations imposed on the inhabitants of National Territories are Decree 177 of 1905, Decree 1347 of 1906, Law 65 of 1909, Decree 523 of 1913, Law 102 of 1914, Decree 340 of 1920, and/or Law 2 of 1943. These legislations limited representative rights and administrative autonomy for the inhabitants of Intendencies and Commissaries. See also Hernández Maldonado (2010).

Following the definitions of racial exclusion of the National Research Council (2004) and Pager and Shepherd (2008).

According to the population census for 2018, 6.68% of Colombian inhabitants self-recognize as Afro-descendant people, a percentage that rises to 73.7% in the case of Chocó. Other censuses of the population also show a similar pattern. For example, according to the census for 1912, the equivalent percentage was 70.6%.

The arguments in favor of this move made reference to Chocó’s geographical isolation and the presence of “savage” indigenous groups. This book demonstrates that these arguments were not enough to impose implicit discrimination over the majoritarian Afro-descendant population of the region.

See Mahoney (2015, 2010), Commission and others (2005), National Research Council (2004), Pager and Shepherd (2008).

I use literature in institutionalism and race relations as guide to the identification of these actions (e.g., Bivens 2005; Gaventa 1982; Leal 2007; Lukes 1974; Pierson 2004; Robinson 2012; Tilly 1998; Wade, 1993a).

See Mendoza and Rosas (2012) for an explanation on the relationship between geographical features and developmental outcomes in Colombia.

E.g., the challenging geographical location in the middle of the Andean mountain system and the social stereotype of being socially inferior to the inhabitants of the capital city, Bogotá (Safford, 1967).

See also the remarks in García Jimeno and Robinson (2010) and Safford (1967).

For instance, Mexico and Peru have greater non-white populations and lower collective efforts in funding mass schooling, in contrast to more racially homogenous societies such as Argentina or Uruguay (Frankema 2009).

For example, Contraloría General de la República (1942), DANE (1954, 1967), Dirección General de los Censos (1912), Dirección Nacional de Estadística (1947), Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (1921). More information on the sources can be found in are in Annex 1.

Different authors have identified the magnitude of excluding Afro-American populations on disparities in wealth, access to credit, schooling indicators, health, and other socioeconomic variables (Aaronson et al., 2021; Collins & Margo, 2006; Margo, 1990). In Latin America, the analyses are usually limited to the contemporary period, as is the case with Woo-Mora (2021) or Arias, Yamada, and Tejerina (2004).

According to Andrews (2007), Latin American countries eliminated the racial categories in the censuses of the population with the exception of Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, which consistently kept up the collecting of this information throughout the twentieth century.

The recommendation of the National Research Council (2004) also suggests the leveling of differences in outcomes by racial group characteristics as a tool for analyzing racial exclusion.

Similarly, Cutler et al. (1993) prove how racial composition indicates different countries’ discriminatory preferences. The authors find that a greater non-white composition of the population means a lower quantity of the goods and services provided by governments.

In the process-tracing approach, the literature on institutionalism and race relations guided the deductions of the mechanism’s actors and actions, as well as the identification of these elements in the empirical sources. For example, in his study of Chocó, Wade (1993a) describes actions of “adaptation” to the standards of the white elites by Chocoano Afro-descendants who experienced mobility in the racial hierarchy during the mid-twentieth century as a way to escape the negative consequences of their blackness. Flórez (2023) and Pisano (2012) identify revisions or contestations of Afro-descendant subalterns to the structurally implicit exclusion implemented, for instance, in access to education or political rights. From the institutional literature point of view, Amsden, DiCaprio, and Robinson (2012), like Acemoglu and Robinson (2008), focus on the role of the powerful actor or the elites’ strategies to keep their advantages despite institutional changes. Bivens (2005), Lukes (1974), Gaventa (1982), and Gaventa et al. (2006) point out the importance of potential processes of the reproduction of exclusion as a consequence of the success of the exclusionary structure or manifestations of frustration under the impossibility of overthrowing those in power.

As previously mentioned, following the insights of authors such as Mahoney (2010, 2015), Mahoney, Thelen, and others (2010).

E.g., South Africa under apartheid and segregation in the United States.

E.g., the concentration of political power and economic resources (wealth or land).

In contrast to racial exclusion, which refers to concrete actions of exclusion, tacit ideological differences refer to the historical circumstances (the Spanish-colonial heritage) that shaped the elitist Latin-American societies.