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Image / Cattle herd grazing, San Basilio de Palenque, 1976

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Title
Cattle herd grazing, San Basilio de Palenque, 1976
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1976
Publication Information
California State University, Northridge
Contributing Institution
California State University, Northridge
Collection
Richard Cross Photographs (Bradley Center)
Rights Information
Use of images from the collections of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is strictly prohibited by law without prior written consent from the copyright holders. The responsibility for the use of these materials rests exclusively with the user.
The Bradley Center may assist in obtaining copyright/licensing permission to use images from the Richard Cross collection. http://www.csun.edu/bradley-center/contact
Description
A cattle herd is grazing. In the background a man is riding a mule. Cattle ranching was traditionally done in the Bajo Grande of Palenque, where people in the community harvested corn in January and then let the cattle graze until September. But outside cattle-owners sent their cattle to graze in that area and later fenced some land, forcing San Basilio cattle ranchers to move their cattle to graze in the highlands. San Basilio de Palenque, a town located 31 miles from Cartagena, is considered the first free-slave community of the Americas because on August 23, 1691, the Spanish King Charles II signed a royal charter recognizing the freedom of the runaway slave communities in the María Mountains. Local authorities, however, did not sign a treaty with the communities of free slaves until January of 1714 acknowledging its freedom and ordering the establishment of the town of Palenque San Basilio Magno. Colombian anthropologist Nina S. de Friedemann had been studying the Afro-Colombian community of San Basilio de Palenque since 1973 for the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and Richard Cross joined her to do work as a visual anthropologist in June 1975. This image illustrates Cross’s anthropological category: Social organization.
Una manada de ganado está pastando. En el fondo, un hombre monta una mula. La ganadería tradicionalmente se realizaba en el Bajo Grande de Palenque, donde la gente de la comunidad cosechaba maíz en enero y luego dejaba que el ganado pastara hasta septiembre. Pero propietarios de ganado de fuera enviaron su ganado a pastar en esa zona y luego cercaron algunas tierras, lo que obligó a los ganaderos de San Basilio a mover su ganado a pastar en las tierras altas. San Basilio de Palenque, un pueblo ubicado a 50 kilómetros de Cartagena, se considera la primera comunidad de esclavos libres de América porque el 23 de agosto de 1691, el rey español Carlos II firmó una cédula real que reconocía la libertad de las comunidades de esclavos fugitivos en el Montañas de María. Sin embargo, las autoridades locales no firmaron un tratado con las comunidades de esclavos libres sino hasta enero de 1714, reconociendo su libertad y ordenando el establecimiento del poblado Palenque San Basilio Magno. La gente en San Basilio de Palenque habla una lengua criolla con base en español conocida como palenquero. Según los registros públicos locales, en 1975 el pueblo tenía 2,400 residentes (en su mayoría agricultores o jornaleros) y 388 casas. La antropóloga colombiana Nina S. de Friedemann había estado estudiando la comunidad afrocolombiana de San Basilio de Palenque desde 1973 para el Instituto Colombiano de Antropología y Richard Cross se unió a ella para trabajar como antropólogo visual en junio de 1975. Esta imagen ilustra la categoría antropológica de Cross: Organización social.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
Color slides
Extent
35 mm
Identifier
99.01.RCr.sl.B7.06.04.67
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/9379
Subject
Cattle herders
Cattle herding
Men, Black--Colombia--San Basilio del Palenque
Place
San Basilio del Palenque (Colombia)
Relation
99.01.RCr.sl.B7.06.04.67.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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