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Acción Cultural Popular, Responsible Procreation, and the Roots Of Social Activism in Rural Colombia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Mary Roldán
Mary Roldán*
Affiliation:
Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center
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Abstract

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This essay examines the Responsible Procreation campaign of Acción Cultural Popular (ACPO) within the context of “zones of crisis” characterized not only by the legacy of long-standing violence but by tensions experienced within the Catholic Church and Colombian society at large during the tumultuous decades of the 1960s and 1970s. ACPO centered its Responsible Procreation campaign on a radical critique of authoritarian and exclusionary gender relations that could only be remedied by guaranteeing women's access to education and their participation as equals in household and community decision making. As a Catholic-affiliated organization, ACPO enjoyed legitimacy many secular organizations did not, enabling it to provide spaces where rural Colombians, especially women, could experiment with voice and agency and explore alternative visions of citizenship and community development without fear of reprisal or social ostracism. Christian social activism, the essay concludes, often laid the basis for the proliferation today of social movements spearheaded by rural women.

Resumen

Resumen

Este ensayo explora la campaña de Procreación Responsable promovida por Acción Cultural Popular (ACPO) dentro del marco de “zonas de crisis”, las cuales se caracterizan no sólo por la persistencia de una violencia de larga duración, sino también por las tensiones vividas adentro de la misma Iglesia Católica y de la sociedad colombiana en general, durante las tumultuosas décadas de los sesenta y setenta. ACPO centró su campaña en una crítica radical de las relaciones de género autoritarias y excluyentes que sólo podrían ser fundamentalmente transformadas garantizando el acceso de las mujeres a la educación y su participación en condiciones igualitarias en las decisiones del hogar y la comunidad. Su estatus como una organización afiliada a la Iglesia Católica le prestó una legitimidad a ACPO que no tenían muchas organizaciones seglares, empoderándola para abrir espacios donde campesinos, especialmente mujeres, podían experimentar con voz y agencia y explorar visiones alternativas de ciudadanía y desarrollo comunitario sin temor a represalias ni ostracismo social. El activismo social cristiano en muchos casos estableció las bases para la proliferación de movimientos sociales contemporáneos encabezados por mujeres campesinas que operan aún el día de hoy.

Type
Part 1: Social Movements and Participatory Democracy
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 49 , Issue S1: Special Issue: Lived Religion and Lived Citizenship in Latin America's Zones of Crisis , 2014 , pp. 27 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the University of Texas Press

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