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

Reverberations

Political identity boundaries after the Colombian peace referendum

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In the Colombian peace referendum, the 2016 accord with the FARC guerrilla, which sought to end fifty years of war, was rejected by 50.2% of voters. The referendum created new identity divides between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ voters, product of political “narrative wars” which intersected with myriad pre-existing divisions: between left and right, urban and rural, rich and poor; and between interpretations of the conflict’s history. This article draws insights from the anthropology of politics together with polarisation studies to analyse the way that national politics like referendums affect and (re-)shape political identity boundaries. It uses the story of Camilo, a right-wing cattle-rancher from the conflict-torn region of Urabá who tries to build bridges across political divides, to conceptualise the way that national narratives ripple through different storied contexts as “reverberations” that act on the everyday lived experiences of identity boundaries.

Keywords: narratives, storytelling, post-truth, Truth Commission, anthropology of politics, polarisation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Between two worlds
  • 2.Storytelling and polarised identity boundaries
  • 3.The narrative wars, 2016–2022
  • 4.Camilo’s story
    • 4.1The past of the conflict
    • 4.2The present of the peace process
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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