Article in:
Journal of Language and Politics: Online-First Articles

National construction and popular erasure in Colombia

A concept analysis of the legitimation and delegitimation of social relations in Colombia through the language of its foundational documents: 1810–1991

| Universidad de los Andes
This article analyses the diachronic symbolic struggle (1810–1991) waged in Colombia’s foundational documents over the legitimation and delegitimation of social relations through the concepts “people” and “nation.” Following the introduction, the method and theory are explained: concept analysis and language-based social ontology. The analysis of the foundational documents follows. These are analysed as extended status function declarations that attempt to legitimate and delegitimate the concepts “people” and “nation”, in order to authorize/deauthorize possible social relations. On the basis of the analysis, the conclusion briefly specifies the discourse of nationism as the ontologisation and wielding of the idea of the nation against internal dissent/opposition, and points up the fundamental importance of symbolic practice in the struggle to change social reality.
Keywords: Colombia, social ontology, concept analysis, nation, people, status function declarations, legitimation, constitutionalism, nationism
Published online: 02 November 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19042.lob
References

References

Abulof, Uriel
2015 “Normative concepts analysis: unpacking the language of legitimation.” International Journal of Social Research Methodologies 18 (1); 73–89. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Arendt, Hannah
1963 On Revolution. New York: Viking Press.Google Scholar
Batistová, Anna and Nico Carpentier
2018 “Constructing the Czech nation.” Journal of Language and Politics. (Published online: 6 August 2018), 1–31. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, Basil
1990 Class, Codes and Control, Vol. IV: The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre
1989 “Social Space and Symbolic Power.” Sociological Theory 7 (1): 14–25. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Browitt, Jeff
2001 “Capital Punishment: the Fragmentation of Colombia and the Crisis of the Nation-State.” Third World Quarterly 22 (6): 1063–1078. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bushnell, David
1993 The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself. Berkeley and London: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith
1993 Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques
1986 “Declarations of Independence.” New Political Science 7 (2): 7–15. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
DeShazo, Peter, Primiani, Tanya, and McLean, Phillip
2007 Back from the Brink: Evaluating Progess in Colombia, 1999–2007. Washington D. C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies.Google Scholar
Durkheim, Emile
1995 [1912] The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Trans. Karen E. Fields. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Evans, Richard
2009 “The Logical Form of Status-Function Declarations.” Etica & Politica / Ethics & Politics XI (1): 203–259.Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford
1973 “Ideology as Cultural System.” In The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Honnig, Bonnie
1991 “Declarations of Independence: Arendt and Derrida on the Problem of Founding a Republic.” American Political Science Review 86 (1): 97–113. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jameson, Fredric
2004 “The Politics of Utopia.” New Left Review 25: 35–54.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Marcos
1983 Formación del Estado nacional en América Latina. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu Editores.Google Scholar
Kraul, Chris
. “A Dynamic Bogotá Attracts Foreign Buyers and Businesses.” New York Times. March 19 2015 http://​www​.nytimes​.com​/2015​/03​/20​/greathomesanddestinations​/a​-dynamic​-bogota​-attracts​-foreign​-buyers​-and​-businesses​.html
Krzyżanowski, Michał
2016 “Recontextualisation of neoliberalism and the increasingly conceptual nature of discourse: Challenges for critical discourse studies.” Discourse & Society 27(3): 308–321. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Laclau, Ernesto, and Chantal Mouffe
1985 Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London; New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Lev-Tov, Deborah
. “Celebrate the Culture of Cali, Colombia.”. New York, July 10 2015 http://​nymag​.com​/travel​/weekend​-escapes​/cali/
Lobo, Gregory
2009 Colombia: algo diferente de una nación. Bogotá: Ediciones Uniandes.Google Scholar
2016 “Memoria, olvido y nación en Colombia: Reflexiones sobre la Ley de Víctimas.” In: Contreras Saiz, Mónika and Louis, Tatjana and Rinke, Stefan (eds.) Memoria y conflicto; memorias en conflicto. Heinz, Stuttgart, Germany, pp. 35–51.Google Scholar
Matiz Cortés, Stefanie
. “La seguridad democrática fue la segunda independencia.” El Espectador, Feb. 26 2010, 2.Google Scholar
McLean, Phillip
2002 “Colomba: Failed, Failing or Just Weak?” The Washington Quarterly 25 (3): 123–134. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Molano Jimeno, Alfredo
. “La Guerra reciclada del Bajo Cauca.” Elespectador.com 2 Mar. 2019 https://​colombia2020​.elespectador​.com​/territorio​/la​-guerra​-reciclada​-del​-bajo​-cauca
Neuman, William
. “Brutal Past and Promising Future Clash in Colombian City”, New York Times 13 July 2015, A4.Google Scholar
Palacios, Marcos
1995 Entre la legitimidad y la violencia: Colombia 1875–1994. Bogotá: Norma.Google Scholar
Procuraduría General de la Nación
2018 Violencia sistemática contra defensores de derechos territoriales en Colombia. Bogotá: Instituto de Estudios del Ministerio Público.Google Scholar
Richani, Nazih
2007 “Caudillos and the Crisis of the Colombian State: fragmented sovereignty, the war system and the privatisation of counterinsurgency in Colombia.” Third World Quarterly 28 (2): 403–417. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rotberg, Robert I.
2003 When States Fail: Causes and Consequences. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Semana
Duque objeta la norma central de la JEP y estos son los 8 escenarios a los que se enfrenta.” Accessed 13 March 2019. https://​www​.semana​.com​/nacion​/articulo​/duque​-objeta​-la​-ley​-de​-la​-jep​-8​-efectos​-que​-podrian​-ser​-contraproducentes​/604938
Searle, John R.
1995 The Construction of Social Reality. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
2010 Making the Social World: The Structure of Human Civilization. New York: Oxford University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Siéyès, Emmanuel J.
1964 What is the Third Estate? New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D.
2001 Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Barry
2003 “John Searle: From Speech Acts to Social Reality.” In John Searle, edited by Barry Smith, 1–33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, David E., Carlos O. Ospina, David R. Moreno, Alejandro Arbelaez, Juan C. Gomez, Carlos Berrios, and Jorge L. Varga
2012 Colombia’s Road to Recovery: Security and Governance 1982–2010. Washington D. C.: Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies.Google Scholar
Tomasello, Michael, and Hannes Rakoczy
2003 “What Makes Human Cognition Unique? From Individual to Shared to Collective Intentionality.” Mind & Language 18(2): 121–147. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Valencia-Villa, Hernando
1987 Cartas de batalla: una crítica del constitucionalismo colombiano. Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia.Google Scholar