Restorative Justice and Ancestral ‘Good Living’: The Case of the Arhuaco

This article investigates the intercultural relationship between Western society and indigenous society. This is the result of two workshops with members of indigenous peoples in Bogota and with Arhuaco indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in the villages of Nabusímake and Simanorua. This article argues that despite the imposition of the model of punitive justice, indigenous peoples resist and reject the punitive model of punishment. The first section compares the relevant elements of Western and indigenous Law. The second section analyzes the tensions among the Western legal institutions, society and Arhuaco law. And finally, the third section emphasizes the importance of resistance as a means to protect “good ancestral living.”