Este articulo sostiene que aunque las antropologias colombiana y latinoamericana declararon haber abandonado cualquier influencia de la antropologia clasica social britanica a favor de una antropologia marxista y comprometida (y mas tarde de una antropologia colombiana), una cierta herencia colonialista de la antropologia aplicada de Malinowski retorna a la antropologia colombiana como una supuesta nueva forma que se propone mediar en los conflictos entre el Estado y los pueblos indigenas en Colombia. Estos restos de la antropologia social britanica clasica se pueden rastrear a lo largo de la historia de la antropologia colombiana para demostrar que su influencia se mantuvo subrepticiamente. Palabras clave: antropologia latinoamericana, historia de la antropologia, antropologia colombiana, antropologia social britanica, funcionalismo, pueblos indigenas, antropologia aplicada. ABSTRACT This article argues that, although Latin American and Colombian anthropology claims to have abandoned any influence from classical British social anthropology during the late sixties, in favor of a committed Marxist anthropology (and later, a Colombian anthropology), a certain colonialist inheritance from Malinowski’s applied anthropology returned to Colombian anthropology, as an allegedly new form of anthropology, intended to mediate conflicts between the state and the indigenous people in Colombia. This remains of classical British social anthropology can be traced throughout the history of Colombian anthropology, to demonstrate that its influence stayed surreptitiously. Keywords: Latin American anthropology, history of anthropology, Colombian anthropology, British social antropology, functionalism, indigenous peoples, applied anthropology.