From Colombia to Corsica

Just over three years ago, Céline Leandri ‘met’ the Kogi, an indigenous people living in the high valleys of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia), the world’s highest coastal mountain range. Through this encounter, their worldview moved her, challenged her, opened her eyes to new understandings and helped her grow.

The Kogi are the heirs to the great pre-Columbian civilisations. They compare the world to a body, whose organs – entities within the territory – are in constant interrelation. For them, the Sierra represents the heart of the world. What sets them apart is the highly rigorous training of their spiritual leaders, who spend up to 18 years in darkness. This practice aims to refine their sensory perceptions and dissolve their ego. In 2022, the UN recognised their traditional knowledge, along with that of the Wiwa, Arhuaco and Kankuamo peoples—who also live in the Sierra—as intangible cultural heritage.

To build a bridge with this indigenous people, guardians of millennia-old wisdom, Céline will share the journey that led her to the Sierra at a conference organised in 2023. In October of the same year, she welcomed five of their representatives to Corsica, to sites featuring prehistoric monuments (dolmens and menhirs).

This journey was made possible thanks to Tchendukua. Founded by Eric Julien (a geographer and business consultant), the organisation has been supporting the peoples of the Sierra for 25 years in their efforts to reclaim their land. It also launched a project to foster dialogue between modern science and the ancestral knowledge of the Kogi people, in 2019 and again in 2023.

To speak of the Kogi worldview is to speak of a tradition passed down over millennia, of the preservation of nature, of beauty, of harmony, and of caring for oneself, for others and for the earth. It is an invitation to journey, to discover and to see things in a new light.