The Indigenous Peoples of Central North Nicaragua and the labyrinths of ethnic self-identification.

Abstract

In Nicaragua, there are different cultural expressions of the original peoples, who struggle hard to conserve their forests, their traditions, forms of social organization, to do politics and to maneuver their economic and social affairs in full freedom. Despite this, the indigenous peoples of central northern Nicaragua are in a complex cultural situation, organized by some NGOs and national governments who have created false positives in relation to the ethnic self-identification of these Segovias populations. That is, without any previous or in-depth archeological and anthropological research they built the indigenous group called “chorotega from the center and north”, this false positive misrepresents much of the history of the first settlers of the northern center of Nicaragua. That is why this essay tries to elucidate the ethnic and political plots related to the search for the cultural identity of the indigenous peoples of the northern center of Nicaragua. On the other hand, within the successes and mistakes of Nicaraguan anthropology, the collective “chorotega of the center and north” was built with an anachronistic history that lacks any archaeological, linguistic and cultural argument that demonstrates this assertion. This article analyzes and claims beyond the practices and traditions the issues of ethnic self-identification, of the original communities of the Segovia. Finally, lines of reflection on social and cultural experiences, manifested in traditions, customs and conversation, are part of the expressions of the cultural identity of the original population.