Measurement and Practices of Social and Racial Segmentation in Cali. A Survey of African Colombian Households

Barbary Olivier.- Measurement and Practices of Social and Racial Segmentation in Cali. A Survey of African Colombian Households In Colombia as in other Latin American countries, the last decade has brought recognition of ethnic and cultural diversity in the official discourse and in the Constitution. This change is the result, among other factors, of a mobilization by civil society and political and scientific circles over the condition of minorities and the segregation and discrimination processes affecting them. The south-west region and its metropolis Cali, as major seats of the African Colombian and, to a lesser extent, the indigenous population, are at the heart of the issue. Building on a survey conducted in 1998 in Cali, this article raises the problem of measuring and analysing racial segmentation and its links to spatial and social mobility. In the context of a society with a high level of race mixture, what is advocated here is the use of phenotypic categories to capture the complex relations between social and ethnic inequality, and to suggest a preliminary diagnosis of segregation and discrimination in Cali, building on the residential distribution and socio-economic conditions for insertion in the city, but also using the respondents' perception. The survey also reveals the strong heterogeneity of this population, due largely to its diversified geographic origins and the highly varied historical and economic circumstances of its migration. Lastly, through logistic regressions on the answers to ethnic and phenotypic questions, the article explores the determinants of the African Colombian identity assertion movement that has recently emerged in the country, and suggests a new approach to the question of the black population's place in the Colombian mixed-race society.Should cultural diversity based on ethnic or geographical origins within one population be accepted, or even encouraged? For "integrationists " the answer is no, in the interest of preserving national unity; for " communalists" the answer is yes, because they refuse to ignore the diversity of identity and of historical experience. Political leaders in Colombia have chosen the second response. However, the implementation of policies adapted to the mechanisms of segregation and discrimination at work in society requires reliable information about the various groups involved. Here, Olivier Barbary examines the difficulties of estimating the population of African descent in the city of Cali (2 million people). He begins by questioning the scientific and political relevance of such categorization, and emphasizes the importance of relating it to socio-economic and migration data.Barbary Olivier.- Indicadores y realidad de la segmentation socio-racial in Cali. Una encuesta sobre los hogares afro-colombianos En Colombia, como en otros paises de America Latina, en los últimos diez aňos se llegó al re- conocimiento progresivo, y finalmente constitucional, de la diversidad étnica y de la multiculturalidad. Esta evolución es el resultado, entre otros factores, de la movilización de la sociedad civil y de los me- dios políticos y científicos en torno a la condición de diversas poblaciones en situación de 'minorřas' demográficas, y de los procesos de segregación y de discnminación que las afectan. La región sudoeste del pais y su metropoli Call, como importantes focos de población afrocolombiana y, en menor grado, indígena, están en el centra de esta problemática. Partiendo de una encuesta reahzada en 1998 en dicha ciudad, el articulo plantea el problema de la medición y análisis de la segmentación racial y de sus vin- culos con la movihdad espacial y social. En el contexte de una sociedad altamente mestizada, se de- fiende aqui el uso de categories fenotípicas del lenguaje común para medir y comprender las relaciones complejas entre desigualdades sociales y raciales, y plantear, desde las percepciones y opiniones de los encuestados, un primer diagnóstico sobre la segregación y la discnminación en Cali. Los primeras re- sultados ponen en evidencia la fuerte heterogeneidad de la población, ligada a la diversidad de sus orí- genes geográficos y a la vanedad de los contextes históncos y económicos de la migración. Finalmente, analizando con modelos de regresión logística las respuestas a las preguntas de auto percepción étnica y fenotipica, el articulo aborda los déterminantes de la emergencia reciente de la afirmación de una identidad afrocolombiana, un proceso que plantea de manera renovada la cuestión del lugar de la población negra en la sociedad mestiza colombiana.Barbary Olivier. Measurement and Practices of Social and Racial Segmentation in Cali. A Survey of African Colombian Households. In: Population (English edition), 57ᵉ année, n°4-5, 2002. pp. 765-792