The Mamos are the spiritual and political authorities of the four indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada in the Colombian Caribbean: the Arhuacos, Kankuamos, Kogis and Wiwas. Their work to preserve their own and their peoples' identity is connected to a larger task; that of preserving the life and being of all that exists. This implies that identity can be conceptualised in two levels, a metaphysical and a social level, and that processes of identity reconstruction are vital. However, in the colonial relations in the dominant society only a specific mode of being that does not include a realm central to the Mamos is validated. This is the realm of aluna in which all beings are interconnected with the Mother. To the Mamos, the negation of these dimensions of reality is a form of bad faith whereby they and all other beings are relegated to the zone of non-being. When their people live in bad faith and relegate the Mother to the zone of non-being, the authority of the Mamos is crushed, their work to preserve life and being is weakened, and coloniality is reinforced.
