Artistic Practices and Cultural Diversity for Peacebuilding in Colombia

Abstract

The complexity of the Colombian conflict has multiple origins in such issues as socio-economic inequality, social injustice, the fight for land, the use of violence and dispossession as a means to obtain individual wealth. This shows how the current peace agreement will require a long and sustainable process that involves combined strategies from academia, civil society and the government that allow sustainable peace to be built across the country. Besides, following the peace agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government (post-agreement stage), strategies for reincorporating ex-combatants into civil society are crucial for the process. In fact, academic communities and Colombian society in general have known very few aspects of ex-combatants’ cultural identities, their uses of culture, the role of arts in everyday life and, especially, their artistic experience, interactions and practices. Consequently, basic elements useful for understanding the role of arts in their identities are largely unknown. This chapter aims to describe the artistic and cultural practices of ex-combatants based on a study of interviews carried out in Colombia. This text will present a literature review and the initial findings from this work. As the ex-combatants come from different cultural backgrounds, it will conclude with a reflection on arts and cultural diversity for peace building.