3Understanding how the research unfolded involves recognising the context, method, results and conclusions.

I. Recognition of place (context)

5Conflicts concern Afro-descendant, indigenous and peasant communities fighting for the land they lay claim to as a condition for ensuring their survival, the lack of economic alternatives in a department with natural resources but hardly any industry, and military strategies to combat insurgent groups and forcibly eradicate illicit crops (United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, 2014).

II. Starting point, the loss of ancestral knowledge

9Although traditional knowledge has been protected by UNESCO, debate continues on its origin and effectiveness in contemporary times. At the World Conference on Science for the Twenty-first Century: a New Commitment, organised by UNESCO in Budapest, traditional knowledge was specified as a cumulative body of knowledge, know-how, practices and representations that have long histories due to interaction with the natural environment. It is a cultural complex that encompasses understandings, interpretations and meanings of language systems, resource use practices, rituals, spirituality and worldview (UNESCO, 2002). Despite UNESCO’s recognition, there are tensions between Western and ancestral knowledge. The former needs to be written down and the process is individual, while the latter revolves around the spoken word and learning occurs collectively with the older generation conveying their knowledge to younger people (Álvarez Echavarría, 2007).

10The Colombian Constitution also recognises the characteristics of indigenous communities based on their identity, their languages, legislative autonomy and the exploitation of resources on their lands. Indigenous authorities can exercise jurisdictional functions within their territory and conform to their own rules and procedures, provided they do not contradict the Constitution (Constitutional Court and High Council of the Judiciary, 2016).

11The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, in line with the position of UNESCO and the Constitution, created the Cultural Tourism Policy with the aim of promoting the country’s cultural tourism and encouraging nationals and foreigners to discover and leverage Colombia’s customs and tangible and intangible heritage to benefit communities. It also promotes the sustainability of cultural and tourism sectors (Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism and Ministry of Culture, 2007).

‘The cultural syncretism of the Kokonucos (and that of all indigenous peoples in Latin America and of colonised people in general) resulting from colonisation rather than a culture’s normal dynamics—understood as a process of transculturation and miscegenation without any violence between different cultures that incorporates new meanings and social practices—contradicts the process of recovering cultural roots to provide traditional practices for the environmental management of the territory, since these practices were lost over time and were replaced by the colonist’s. This means the Kokonucos of the Puracé reservation lost their worldview, myths and legends that could serve as barriers to protect the environment. Today, this indigenous community’s cultural syncretism tends to adopt Western society’s sociocultural values, including individualism’ (Galeano, 2012, p. 72).

13However, conservation, activism and change in the communities depends on a vision for development. Far from Eurocentric power structures or those inspired by northern countries, development needs to be understood on the basis of Latin American or African realities, contexts where the imposed model is resisted and historical moments overlap. Arturo Escobar’s academic insights focus on contradictions arising from having an economic approach to development. In Latin American contexts, historical moments occur without the need for a linear process. This has been confirmed by theorists such as Jesús Martin Barbero, José Joaquín Brunner and Néstor García Canclini for whom historical discontinuities in Latin America include processes related to identities, cultural industries, cultural consumption, communities’ cultural practices and their relationship with technologies. According to these authors, tensions can be observed between the national identity fostered by the modern world and identities found in national territories (Martin Barbero, 2008).

14As far as indigenous communities are concerned, the concept of development is part of their worldview and forms the basis of social practice integrating political, economic, social, cultural and religious structures. That is why cooperation and communitarianism are fundamental processes and why indigenous peoples resist Western models (Batzin, 2005, p. 7).

16Besides buen vivir, the indigenous communities use the Life Plan, a document created with the community, to analyse and plan action projects for their territory. In the case of the Kokonucos, their 2011–2013 Life Plan illustrates that a lack of external awareness of the community’s traditional knowledge is a problem, which is why they want to produce ecotourism and ethno-tourism plans and programmes (Genaro Sánchez Cabildo Association, traditional authority of the ancestral lands of the Kokonuco people, n.d.)

17Tourism business presents several problems where indigenous communities are concerned: conflict between interests arising from enhancing and managing heritage and their relationship with local interests; the commodification of culture, which involves reworking folkloric and ancestral traits for tourism consumption; and the inequality a tourism project can cause (Impemba, M., Maragliano, G. and Valverde, S., 2015).

18A quote from Hallowell, cf. Ashley (1968) cited by Ascanio demonstrates this tension:

‘This tourism culture, which is a new dimension, as complex as a community’s original culture, requires a process of adaptation that only the community itself should decide to accept or reject. At first, a psychological restructuring will be necessary that enables not only adaptation but also a cultural readjustment, which involves innovation and creativity’ (Ascanio, 2004, p. 140).

III. Methodology

20In PAR, the community adopts a leading role throughout the process. It is the community that has to identify the problems and their solutions while the academic researchers’ role consists of facilitating and accompanying these processes.

21Although the PAR may use traditional research techniques, other creative and innovative options are implemented with an emphasis on qualitative and phenomenological data such as sociocultural animation, artistic expressions and traditional games. According to Jorge Murcia Florián, the PAR ‘lays less emphasis on “scientific” knowledge and instead favours “practical” knowledge stemming from the community’ (Murcia Florián, 1997, p. 9).

22To sum up, action research allows the community to improve knowledge of its reality, create awareness of social, cultural, political and economic interrelations and stimulate organisation and solidarity to achieve a greater degree of intervention in development and structural change processes (Murcia Florián, 1997, p. 46).

23Next, we focus on working with the community, a process that was implemented in two phases. An inventory of traditional knowledge was produced in the first. Participation, feedback and validation of the information obtained were crucial in this stage. In the second phase, emphasis was placed on our intervention in the community’s cultural reality by establishing a group of comuneros responsible for leveraging and disseminating the knowledge obtained in the first phase. Learning sessions were also held to enable them to promote their territory in the future.

26Playful activities, oral sessions and feedback processes were crucial elements in designing and expanding the method. Work performed by cultural management, communication and tourism professionals focused on workshops and participatory training processes. The academics sought to share in the daily life of Puracé’s inhabitants to identify knowledge. Feedback meetings and fun workshops took place with children, young people and adults to facilitate access to information, promote recognition of tourism opportunities in Puracé and foster the formation of the Traditional Knowledge Custodians group.

IV. Process and results: document search, inventory, training and production

28Using the participatory method was agreed, whereby people learn by doing, prioritising experience, collective processes, recreation and the dissemination of knowledge, all characteristics of learning processes in indigenous communities (Álvarez Echavarría, 2007, p. 121).

‘Indigenous knowledge is linked to practical interaction with the world, in other words, although there may exist abstract knowledge (such as knowledge of spirituality) or narrative knowledge (such as knowledge of mythological traditions), local knowledge is more concerned with solving the territory’s contextual problems and surviving in it. The relevance of knowledge usually lies in it being applied to solve problems and in managing to impact the local community’ (Pérez Orozco, 2015, p. 79).

30Cases of leveraging heritage were studied in the experiences: in Colombia, the Coffee Cultural Landscape and the Checua settlement in Nemocón, and in Peru, the archaeological site Huaycán Cieneguilla. The value of training and communication processes was understood at these places. In the Coffee Cultural Landscape, they worked with children through play, with young people through the use of technologies and with adults through exploring identity vis-à-vis the landscape for promotion among traders and entrepreneurs (Gómez Alzate, A., 2015). In Nemocón, publications were produced and a museum was created. ‘Checua: Our Cultural and Ecological Traveller’ was a traveller’s notebook that each child took home so that their parents, grandparents and relatives could complete the topics on the settlement and the municipality. This notebook was passed on from one family to the next in the area so that they could have the opportunity to read the information and add to it. In addition to the notebook, a magazine with two sections was published: Huellas de los antepasados (Ancestors’ Footprints), which explains aspects about the landscape and ancient human groups in the region; and Cuentan nuestros mayores (Told by Our Elders), which relates dialogues between older and younger generations (Groot, A., 2014).

32Besides the documents consulted, the community’s role in collating traditional knowledge was established through workshops with sociocultural animation techniques. Thus, information was collected on: cultural practices, recipes, myths, stories, traditional medicine, daily life and remembrance.

33Fieldwork and published information were consolidated in the traditional knowledge inventory, which is the intangible heritage of the Puracé reservation. The inventory document made it possible to identify, recognise and recover words in the Kokonuco language, to discover various versions of myths and to attach importance to daily practices lost as a result of current living conditions. One example is the tulpa (a wood stove consisting of three stones around which the community gathers to listen to the experiences and advice of its elders). This practice has been lost due to using gas and electricity for cooking.

34By exchanging knowledge within the community they rediscovered recipes made with local agricultural produce, such as ollucos, and links with other indigenous communities based on ancestral knowledge. Corn, an essential crop for indigenous communities in Latin America with many uses and meanings, is one example.

36Once information on the knowledge had been obtained, an interactive exhibition was held with the schoolchildren, initially in a closed space, and then with the entire community. The events made it possible to share the information, correct it and receive new contributions.

39The result of the community communication was a mural that gives an account of the myths, natural attractions, daily practices, moon phases and other aspects of the territory. Producing the mural was a participatory process as the community’s custodians and other members defined which elements to incorporate into it. The sketch was submitted for approval to the cabildo authorities and it was then implemented. In digital communication the custodians made a video to learn about audiovisual production and to help people discover Puracé’s culture and natural attractions.

42The research process of the Traditional Knowledge Area was a fundamental part of the Termacolores project. The inventory information was used for communication pieces, the marketing plan and it was also shared with the infrastructure team to study the possibility of including the cultural characteristics the community had identified into the design. The work on knowledge led to the need for training in cultural entrepreneurship so that the community could consolidate their offer of goods and services for tourists based on their traditional knowledge. Consequently, community members who perform a traditional activity such as weaving, gardening and food preparation can implement entrepreneurial ideas as part of the tourism project. This will define a community promoting its culture and offering services to visitors.

Conclusions

• Problematising the loss of traditional knowledge in social groups is a research horizon that enhances diverse dialogue, ranging from individual identity to the traits that form a given territory’s collective.

• The community’s knowledge, intangible heritage and hot spring wellness tourism proposal need to be valued as equally important. The traditional knowledge of the Kokonuco community is the differential factor in the Termacolores project. Besides the hot springs and the Páramo landscapes, tourism in this territory must also consider the community’s other attributes, such as traditions and rituals linked to its sacred places.

• • 27 Indigenous communities are based on people’s wellbeing and their relationship with other elements o (...)

  A value proposition for cultural and heritage tourism that is community-friendly and sustainable can be based on the knowledge of Puracé’s inhabitants. Many places with hot springs offer wellness tourism, but in Puracé, it is the culture that makes the difference. Traditional knowledge can be promoted so that their own people and outsiders can understand the indigenous way of thinking in which people are part of nature.27

• The indigenous community is an important asset for the Termacolores project; however, the campesinos living in the territory will also need to be involved. Promoting knowledge exchange between both population groups is vital.

• The process of regaining traditional knowledge is not restricted to an intervention run by outsiders and the community and lasting for a limited period. It must be an ongoing process that allows the Kokonuco to experience their culture, convey it to new generations and experience it in their daily lives so that it can be known, recognised and valued by their own and other people.

• The permanence of the leveraging process relies on community leadership, in other words for the Kokonucos living in Puracé to feel empowered to work for their own culture. To this end, the Traditional Knowledge Custodians are a group of people responsible for proposing, generating and leading processes to help the community discover its traditional knowledge and practices. This group needs cabildo support so it can be recognised and perform its functions.

• Young Puracé people are talented and motivated. It is important for the reservation to acknowledge them and to let them participate actively in their territory. Elders in indigenous communities are those who respect and know their culture. An intergenerational dialogue is needed to tap into the experience of the traditional knowledge holders and young people’s knowledge to consolidate intangible heritage in the community.

• Artistic expressions are an important educational tool for mobilising, boosting, motivating and empowering the community as far as traditional culture is concerned through learning, doing and/or artistic appreciation. The arts are a way to assertively approach a range of audiences from children to community elders and including future tourists.

• Tourism in a territory impacted by conflict, as Puracé was, means that the community can recognise its culture’s potential and organise itself to create a proposal to understand the wealth of its knowledge and its position in the human-land relationship. Tourism based on this perspective contributes to bolstering the Kokonuco people and recognising indigenous communities.

• Research in indigenous communities involves respecting and recognising the knowledge and way of life of people whose relationship with their environment differs from that of the West. The process needs to be participatory with ongoing presentation of the results. These are communities that have often been studied but rarely receive feedback on the information they provide to academia or other sectors such as the economy or local authorities.