ciclos de destrucción y regeneración: experiencia histórica entre los ette del norte de colombia.

This article focuses on the refections of a Colombian indigenous group on their own historicity. It describes and analyzes how the Ette (also known as “Chimilas”) from the plains of the Ariguaní River have ordered and made sense of their historical experience. For this group, the future is both cyclical and linear. The idea of a beginning and end of history is complemented by the idea that the movement from one point to another occurs through cycles of destruction and regeneration. Such ideas have signifcant implications on the forms of action and consciousness of members of this group, and on the capacity with which people are endowed to infuence the course of events.