BGHS

Lukas Rehm

Discourses on Violence and Discourses of Violence - La Violencia in Colombia 1946-1964

The research project analyzes the Colombian civil war from 1946 to 1964 known as La Violencia. It explicitly investigates the function and legitimacy of violence in the political struggles between Liberals, Conservatives, Communist groups and the armed forces. In this context, violence is conceived as a discursive act. On the one hand we assume that violence was used as a means for political participation as well as political exclusion. On the other hand, due to the constructivist, communication theory influenced definition of the political, the investigation is guided by the thesis that only the discursive perception and interpretation of the violent acts decided on their political, criminal or terrorist character and therefore on their (il-)legitimacy. These two aspects of the research project aim at answering the question how the political space was changed by the violence itself and the discourses on the violence regarding the hierarchies and structures of political power as well as political participation. The project compares the two departments of Antioquia and Tolima - two regions that were highly affected by (political) violence but differed in the changing actors? configuration: While Liberal guerrillas shaped to a great extent the political struggles in traditionally conservative Antioquia Communist armed groups, besides the Liberals, were influential on the political processes in Tolima. .

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