This thesis is about the negotiations of inclusion of Afro-Colombians in multiculturalism, understood as a form of government of populations based on cultural difference, but in which the limits of that difference that is recognized and managed politically are in permanent reconfiguration. Using the ethnographic approach (as a method of research and text description) I take various senses about the Afro-Colombian cultural difference, and how they are re-signified and mobilized in three universes where it is possible to approach the particularities of the multicultural project in Colombia: the negotiations for the categories in the censuses, the negotiations around the policy of reparation to victims, and the negotiations about their afropacific music. In each universe I identify the social actors that converge, the articulations, tensions and sonorities that come from these interactions, in order to identify the senses about Afro-Colombian ethnicity that are (re)configured and the associated socio-political dynamics. The analysis of this three proposed ethnographic universes allows me to conclude with a critical look on the Colombian multicultural project in the current post-conflict scenario, and how the anthropological practice is inscribed in this context. / Esta tesis trata sobre las negociaciones por la inclusión de los afrocolombianos al multiculturalismo, comprendido como una forma de gobierno de las poblaciones basada en la diferencia cultural, pero donde los límites de esa diferencia que se reconoce y gestiona políticamente están en permanente reconfiguración. Empleando el enfoque etnográfico (como método de investigación y descripción textual) sigo los diversos sentidos sobre la diferencia cultural afrocolombiana, y cómo son resignificados y movilizados en tres universos donde es posible aproximarse a las particularidades del proyecto multicultural en Colombia: las negociaciones por las categorías en los censos, las negociaciones en torno a la política de reparación a víctimas, y las negociaciones sonoras de la música afropacífica. En cada universo identifico los actores sociales que convergen, las articulaciones, tensiones y sonoridades que surgen de esas interacciones, para así identificar los sentidos sobre la etnicidad afrocolombiana que son (re)configurados y las dinámicas sociopolíticas asociadas. El análisis de los tres universos etnográficos propuestos, me permite concluir con una mirada crítica sobre el proyecto multicultural colombiano en el escenario actual de postconflicto, y cómo se inscribe la práctica antropológica en este contexto.

This thesis is about the negotiations of inclusion of Afro-Colombians in multiculturalism, understood as a form of government of populations based on cultural difference, but in which the limits of that difference that is recognized and managed politically are in permanent reconfiguration. Using the ethnographic approach (as a method of research and text description) I take various senses about the Afro-Colombian cultural difference, and how they are re-signified and mobilized in three universes where it is possible to approach the particularities of the multicultural project in Colombia: the negotiations for the categories in the censuses, the negotiations around the policy of reparation to victims, and the negotiations about their afropacific music. In each universe I identify the social actors that converge, the articulations, tensions and sonorities that come from these interactions, in order to identify the senses about Afro-Colombian ethnicity that are (re)configured and the associated socio-political dynamics. The analysis of this three proposed ethnographic universes allows me to conclude with a critical look on the Colombian multicultural project in the current post-conflict scenario, and how the anthropological practice is inscribed in this context. / Esta tesis trata sobre las negociaciones por la inclusión de los afrocolombianos al multiculturalismo, comprendido como una forma de gobierno de las poblaciones basada en la diferencia cultural, pero donde los límites de esa diferencia que se reconoce y gestiona políticamente están en permanente reconfiguración. Empleando el enfoque etnográfico (como método de investigación y descripción textual) sigo los diversos sentidos sobre la diferencia cultural afrocolombiana, y cómo son resignificados y movilizados en tres universos donde es posible aproximarse a las particularidades del proyecto multicultural en Colombia: las negociaciones por las categorías en los censos, las negociaciones en torno a la política de reparación a víctimas, y las negociaciones sonoras de la música afropacífica. En cada universo identifico los actores sociales que convergen, las articulaciones, tensiones y sonoridades que surgen de esas interacciones, para así identificar los sentidos sobre la etnicidad afrocolombiana que son (re)configurados y las dinámicas sociopolíticas asociadas. El análisis de los tres universos etnográficos propuestos, me permite concluir con una mirada crítica sobre el proyecto multicultural colombiano en el escenario actual de postconflicto, y cómo se inscribe la práctica antropológica en este contexto.

This thesis is about the negotiations of inclusion of Afro-Colombians in multiculturalism, understood as a form of government of populations based on cultural difference, but in which the limits of that difference that is recognized and managed politically are in permanent reconfiguration. Using the ethnographic approach (as a method of research and text description) I take various senses about the Afro-Colombian cultural difference, and how they are re-signified and mobilized in three universes where it is possible to approach the particularities of the multicultural project in Colombia: the negotiations for the categories in the censuses, the negotiations around the policy of reparation to victims, and the negotiations about their afropacific music. In each universe I identify the social actors that converge, the articulations, tensions and sonorities that come from these interactions, in order to identify the senses about Afro-Colombian ethnicity that are (re)configured and the associated socio-political dynamics. The analysis of this three proposed ethnographic universes allows me to conclude with a critical look on the Colombian multicultural project in the current post-conflict scenario, and how the anthropological practice is inscribed in this context. / Esta tesis trata sobre las negociaciones por la inclusión de los afrocolombianos al multiculturalismo, comprendido como una forma de gobierno de las poblaciones basada en la diferencia cultural, pero donde los límites de esa diferencia que se reconoce y gestiona políticamente están en permanente reconfiguración. Empleando el enfoque etnográfico (como método de investigación y descripción textual) sigo los diversos sentidos sobre la diferencia cultural afrocolombiana, y cómo son resignificados y movilizados en tres universos donde es posible aproximarse a las particularidades del proyecto multicultural en Colombia: las negociaciones por las categorías en los censos, las negociaciones en torno a la política de reparación a víctimas, y las negociaciones sonoras de la música afropacífica. En cada universo identifico los actores sociales que convergen, las articulaciones, tensiones y sonoridades que surgen de esas interacciones, para así identificar los sentidos sobre la etnicidad afrocolombiana que son (re)configurados y las dinámicas sociopolíticas asociadas. El análisis de los tres universos etnográficos propuestos, me permite concluir con una mirada crítica sobre el proyecto multicultural colombiano en el escenario actual de postconflicto, y cómo se inscribe la práctica antropológica en este contexto.

The subject of this thesis is the temporary and travelling exhibition Velorios y santos vivos: comunidades negras, afrocolombianas, raizales y palenqueras [Wakes and living saints: Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquero communities]. ‘Velorios,’ as many people involved in the project referred to it, portrayed Afro-Colombian funerals and devotions to Catholic saints, and was on display in the temporary exhibitions hall in the National Museum of Colombia, in Bogotá, from 21 August to 3 November 2008. Before it closed, a travelling version was designed that began to go around the country in 2009. When I wrote this thesis, ‘the Itinerante,’ as the travelling version was referred to at the Museum, was still available as one of the displays that its Travelling Exhibitions Programme (TEP) offered to the public. I use Velorios and the Itinerante as the main ‘characters’ in an ethnography of the National Museum of Colombia, where I explore the different instances in which this major exhibition produced visibilities and invisibilities regarding the place of Afro-Colombian people in the nation. As a museum, this institution is responsible for managing, researching and displaying its four collections (of art, history, ethnography and archaeology) but also, as one of the Ministry of Culture’s ‘special administrative units,’ it is in charge of designing and implementing policies that regulate all the other museums in Colombia. This is in keeping with national and international official legislation regarding cultural heritage, like the National Culture Plan and UNESCO’s resolutions, and in support of the development and strengthening of museums, museology and museum design in the whole country. Here I show what these responsibilities and duties translate into on the ground. The themes that the thesis explores are i) (in)visibility, ii) participatory collaboration and, also as the means to approach these themes, iii) documents and documentation. They are all components of the kind of curatorship that this museum exhibition conveyed.