Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Colombia is a multiethnic and pluricultural country, this is the historical outcome of different migratory processes, that took place especially at the time of the discovery of America, where people of different races, cultures and religious beliefs came together. During this time the bringing and kidnapping of African people was ordered by the Spanish Crown in order to be enslaved in the new world. At that time, it was said that Africans had no soul, and therefore, they were cruelly enslaved, after many years in the seventeenth century, Benkos Biohó, a precursor of the freedom of enslaved Africans in America, appeared. However, after many centuries the Colombian Afro-descendant population continues living the yoke of forced displacement as a result of the country’s internal armed conflict, many of them have taken refuge in large cities like Bogotá where they have brought the pain of war, but also the African cultural and religious wealth which manifest their search for God in respect for their rights, justice and equity. This research tracks sociodemographic variables, analyzes categories such as religious experience, the educational component and the intercultural component of young Afro-descendants in Bogotá through the narrative method, and finally considers the importance of ethnoeducation as a public policy that responds to the needs of the new social, cultural, and religious configurations.