Muysca Cosmopolitics

By Andrea Sánchez-Castañeda, CSWR Postdoctoral Fellow, Religion and Indigenous Plant Medicine Traditions of the Americas. Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey.

The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions.

Indigenous peoples in the Andes coexist with earth-beings, non-human entities such as mountains, rivers, water sources, and other elements, which are agents in the natural world. Earth-beings possess their own forms of life, wisdom, voice, and political agency. Indigenous communities practice politics rooted in relational ontologies where humans and non-humans co-create the social and political fabric. Acknowledging the political agency of non-human beings unsettles dominant political notions of sovereignty and governance, opening the possibility for more inclusive cosmopolitics that are relational, ecologically attuned, and suited for Indigenous peoples.

The Indigenous Muysca community of the Suba territory in Bogotá, Colombia, considers their land to be inhabited by earth-beings they know as “the older siblings.” Anthropologist Marisol de la Cadena posits that earth-beings are not merely physical objects or natural resources but relational actors participating in social and political life. 

International law, specifically ILO Convention 169—a binding treaty recognizing Indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands and cultures—requires states to carry out “prior consultation” (consulta previa) with Indigenous peoples before undertaking actions that may affect their lands, rights, or way of life. Although this legal obligation applies only to human Indigenous communities—not directly to non-human beings—it reflects a recognition of Indigenous peoples’ political agency. State and private actors must seek the approval of Indigenous communities for land development projects for these to be considered legitimate.

The Tibabuyes Chupqua wetland in Suba is under threat from a development plan titled “Linear Park and Environmental Corridor Project, Juan Amarillo” (Parque Lineal Conexión Corredor Ambiental Juan Amarillo) that poses ecological harm and profound spiritual loss to the Muysca, whose elders recount personal connections to these very wetlands. The Muysca demand prior consultation, which is their legal right. 

For the Muysca, the Tibabuyes Chupqua wetland is a living being and the place of origin in their cosmogony. A wetland is not merely property or a resource but, along with its dense non-human population, is itself Muyscas’ kin and spiritual companion. Jorge Yopasá, a prominent Muysca figure, explains that the watery places of Suba are not merely geographical features, but are the dwellings of ancestors and the sites where life originates. Relationships with non-human beings are relationships with the land, and relationships with the land are, in turn, relationships with non-human beings.

Tibabuyes means “Land of the Farmers.” More telling, in the Muysca language, the term “chupqua” simultaneously refers to “uterus,” “nipple,” and “wetland,” linguistically embodying the Muysca community’s ontological relationship to the land. Elders explain that placentas were traditionally buried in wetland areas, some of which are now urbanized or drained, and that this practice establishes living and physical bonds between individuals and the land. Muysca woman Chavelita Sanchez mentioned in an interview that her mother gave birth to her in a wetland area, and her placenta was buried there. She can no longer return to the site—it has been drained and developed. 

Scholars, policymakers, and activists increasingly recognize the political legitimacy of Indigenous, non-Western ontologies. Indigenous political engagement envisions a world of partial connections—partial not because they are incomplete, but because they are situated and specific—what philosopher of science Isabelle Stengers calls “cosmopolitics,” where different ontologies coexist without being reduced to any single universal framework or translated into Western categories. Considering her Andean ethnographic work, de la Cadena calls for “slowing down reasoning,” a deliberate pause in habitual conceptual frameworks that makes room for new and different political actors. 

But concerns for human and non-human relationships on the Suba wetlands are not shared by non-Muyscas seeking to develop sacred Indigenous land without regard for human inhabitants, let alone regard for non-human earth-beings. TheTibabuyes Chupqua, the largest wetland in Bogotá, sacred to the Muysca, spans 222 hectares. It is considered a vital part of the city’s Ecological Main Structure (Estructura Ecológica Principal), which comprises interconnected natural areas essential for biodiversity; it is also home to endangered species, such as the Bogotá rail bird.

So-called “recognition politics” fail to engage Indigenous ways of being and knowing. States throughout Latin America operate using Western secular frameworks that formally recognize cultural diversity but continually require Indigenous peoples to translate their concerns into modern, institutionally acceptable terms that cannot account for non-humans. As de la Cadena writes, Indigenous leaders are compelled to “speak in modern terms, translating their practices into a politically acceptable speech, and leaving ‘the unacceptable’ behind without necessarily abandoning it.” De la Cadena does not propose replacing Western political systems with Indigenous ones; instead, she suggests a “pluriverse” in which many worlds coexist and accommodate human and non-human agents. 

In truly pluriversal politics, Indigenous life-worlds are not reduced to symbolic recognition but actively integrated into decision-making processes that shape the land and future in Colombia. Muysca community leaders and environmental activist allies fight legal battles, stage public demonstrations, and engage in intercultural dialogue, pressing the state to honor its obligations to Indigenous communities, including to their earth-being kin and co-actors, before approving and enacting land development and urban expansion projects that affect their territory.