The Archeological Museum of Pasca: a Hypothesis about its Origin

Abstract

This article inquires into the origin of the Archeological Museum of Pasca (MAP), argumenting that its creation responds to a sociocultural strategy designed by the parish priest Jaime Hincapié Santamaría in order to strengthen relations between the community and the parish. This took place in a local context marked by agrarian conflicts, which, by means of a long process, configured a political foundation of liberal and communist ideas among its inhabitants. What is singular about this parish priest´s interest, as this article aims to demonstrate, is that this effort was not accompanied by religious discourse, but by a domesticated revindication of the indigenous local past. For this purpose, this article uses a strategy that articulates historical knowledge on the local context in which MAP emerged and on the life of Jaime Hincapié Santamaría, with testimonies of the inhabitants of the municipality, which allowed identification of the meanings given to this museum. In this way, this exercise will allow the historization of a place of memory of the Sumapaz región of Colombia, highlighting the role of priests as sociocultural agents.

Keywords

• Museo Arqueológico de Pasca
• conflictos agrarios
• política
• hegemonía religiosa