Las comisiones de la verdad y los legados coloniales: lecciones desde Colombia (2018-2022)

Translated title of the contribution: Truth Commissions and Colonial Legacies: Lessons from Colombia (2018-2022)

Claire Wright, Bill Rolston, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
1 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

With its signing of the Havana Peace Agreement in 2016, Colombia sought to end an armed conflict that had lasted more than sixty years and had left nearly nine million victims. The agreement led to the establishment of a transitional justice (TJ) framework, including the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence, and Non-Repetition (CEV). This study identifies how the CEV incorporated the legacies of colonialism into its analytical framework. The research is based on in-depth interviews with twenty scholars specializing in colonialism and/or TJ, nineteen peacebuilders, informal conversations with CEV members, and a review of various volumes of the final report. The findings highlight that the commission adopted a long-term historical perspective, revisiting aspects of Spanish colonialism (including structural racism and the hacienda system as an institution of territorial, political, and economic order) as explanatory factors for the various forms of violence experienced during the armed conflict. Additionally, several volumes of the final report emphasize the ongoing impact of colonial legacies, viewing them more as continuities or “ruins,” using Stoler’s concept (2008). While the possibility of dismantling colonial legacies on a material level due to the CEV’s work is debated, its symbolic significance must be highlighted, especially in a context where the State had sought to erase the colonial past. This article contributes to the emerging literature that examines TJ from a decolonial perspective, providing an empirical analysis of the CEV in Colombia, which we believe can become a key reference for this field.

Translated title of the contributionTruth Commissions and Colonial Legacies: Lessons from Colombia (2018-2022)
Original languageSpanish
Pages (from-to)97-120
Number of pages24
JournalAntipoda
Volume2024
Issue number57
Early online date1 Oct 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 1 Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Colombia
  • colonialism
  • conflict
  • ethnic peoples
  • transitional justice
  • Truth Commission

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Truth Commissions and Colonial Legacies: Lessons from Colombia (2018-2022)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this