Abya Yala (from theKuna language: 'Abiayala', meaning "mature land"[1]) is used by someindigenous peoples of the Americas to refer to theAmericas.[2] The term is used by some indigenous organisations, institutions, and movements as a symbol of identity and respect for the land one inhabits.[3] The increasing usage of the term can be viewed in the context ofdecolonization, as it serves to create an understanding that "land and discourse,territorio y palabra, cannot be disjointed" and a geography in which a struggle for sovereignty and resistance occurs on an everyday basis for Indigenous communities.[4]
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The name, which translates to "land in its full maturity", "land of lifeblood", or "noble land that welcomes all" originates from theGuna people who once inhabited a region spanning from the northern coast of Colombia to theDarién Gap, and now live on the Caribbean coast ofPanama, in theComarca ofGuna Yala.[5] The term isPre-Columbian.
The first explicit usage of the expression in its political sense was at the 2nd Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala, held in Quito in 2004.[6] The symbolic and ideological significance of this summit is reflected in its rejection of neoliberal globalization, its reaffirmation of Indigenous peoples' rights to territorial autonomy, and its continuity with the earlier declarations made at the 2000Teotihuacan Summit[7].
Despite each indigenous group on the continent having uniqueendonyms for the regions they live in (e.g.Tawantinsuyu,Anahuac orpt:Pindorama), the expression Abya Yala is increasingly used in search of building a sense of unity and belonging amongst cultures which have a sharedcosmovision (for instance a deep relationship with the land) and history ofcolonialism. The designationAbya Yala lies in its ability to represent a shared vision rooted in indigenous ways of life. Many indigenous movements have adopted this designation to replace colonial names such as ‘Latin America’ to express a connection to the land, community and ancestral memory[8].
TheBolivianindigenistTakir Mamani argues for the use of the term "Abya Yala" in the official declarations ofindigenous peoples' governing bodies, saying that "placing foreign names on our villages, our cities, and our continents is equivalent to subjecting our identity to the will of our invaders and their heirs."[9] Thus, use of the term "Abya Yala" rather than a term such asNew World orAmerica may have ideological implications indicating support forindigenous rights, as it is regarded as a symbolic shift in Indigenous self-identification. Escobar describes this as "a telling element in the constitution of a diverse set of indigenous peoples as a novel cultural-political subject."[8]
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Some critics assert that the Guna people do not refer to the entire American continent when using the term Abya Yala, arguing that, cosmologically, the Guna refer to their ancestral lands.
However, studies by Guna intellectuals, such as the ethnolinguist Abadio Green Stocel and the sociologist and poet Aiban Wagua, indicate that the construction of the cosmogonic meaning of Abya Yala is related to the partitioning of Mother Earth into continents. In this process of creation and separation of the world, Abya Yala corresponds to the continent inhabited by Indigenous peoples, effectively assuming a continental nuance, distinct from the term associated specifically with the territory occupied by the Guna people, Guna Yala.
Moreover, the use of this term, which has been considered lacking demonstrable historical foundations, has been adopted by scholars proposing decolonial academic perspectives (Arturo Escobar and Walter Mignolo, among others) and by some Indigenous groups, in some cases associated with leftist ideological political movements in various countries on the continent, without a connection to the different cultures that have developed in the continental territory. In particular, the use of the term was promoted by the political movement of Bolivian Aymara Indianist Constantino Lima (self-named Takir Mamani, b. 1933) after a visit to Panama. Bolivian Indianists Pedro Portugal Mollinedo and Carlos Macusaya Cruz narrate this in their bookEl indianismo katarista. Una mirada crítica:
“[Constantino Lima] stopped to visit the Indigenous peoples of Panama. There, he learned that they referred to their lands as Abya Yala:
‘It was an unforgettable day because after 500 years of artificial separation, the moment came when I met the Guna brothers. I arrived at the island of Ustupo, one of the 300 islands of San Blas (Republic of Panama). Indeed, it was a solemn meeting. As we embraced, our hearts seemed to be conversing as well, because the diastole and systole seemed to leap like the finish of a race. The saylas [keepers of traditional wisdom] were the first to welcome me with the rigors and customs of decent Indigenous people. Among many things, we reached the name of their lands. It was a 76-year-old sayla, accompanied by others, who narrated the history passed down verbally from generation to generation, and that could no longer be kept silent in front of a brother who arrives from such distant lands.’ Regarding whether that name would be restrictive for the use of the Guna and its meaning, [Constantino] Lima states: ‘When asked [by the sayla] if that name was only for what is called Central America, he exclaimed: “No: it is the name of the entire territorial mass, that is, everything they call North America, Central America, and South America. Abya-Yala encompasses all of this. In our language, abya means ‘land’ (like something from Pachamama and many additions) and yala is a young man in the prime of youth. Thus, Abya-Yala is the territory in full bloom of youth.”’
El indianismo katarista. Un análisis crítico (2016: 272)
Pedro Portugal Mollinedo and Carlos Macusaya Cruz
According to critics of the term, each culture gave a name in its respective language to the territory they occupied. The Guarani territory was called Yvy Marãe'ỹ by its inhabitants (translated in ancient times as ‘virgin land’ and currently as ‘land without evil’). This region extended into what is today Paraguay, southern Brazil, and northeastern Argentina.