Suffering and political agency: an inquiry into the condition of victimhood in Bojayá, Colombia

Ximena Castro-Sardi,Cristian Erazo

doi:10.5565/rev/athenea.2271

Abstract

Victims have acquired an unprecedented social and political legitimacy in the contemporary world. In light of this phenomenon and the debates it has generated in the social and human sciences, in this article we analyze how victimhood is constructed in Bojaya, a municipality on the Colombian Pacific coast, where more than eighty people were massacred in 2002 during a combat between the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejercito del Pueblo) and the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia). Supported by interviews and field data, we argue that the social trauma of the massacre and suffering are the cause of political agency of the victims and the means for becoming political subjects. Based on conceptual categories coming from Lacanian psychoanalysis, we conclude that the nomination of victim in Bojaya is fundamental for its inhabitants –previously invisible– so that they can be recognized by the Other of the nation and the international scene.

Highlights

Las víctimas han adquirido una legitimidad social y política inédita en el mundo contemporáneo
Victims have acquired an unprecedented social and political legitimacy in the contemporary world. In light of this phenomenon and the debates it has generated in the social and human sciences, in this article we analyze how victimhood is constructed in Bojayá, a municipality on the Colombian Pacific coast, where more than eighty people were massacred in 2002 during a combat between the FARCEP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo) and the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia)
Supported by interviews and field data, we argue that the social trauma of the massacre and suffering are the cause of political agency of the victims and the means for becoming political subjects

Summary

Víctimas Conflicto armado colombiano Trauma social Sufrimiento social

Las víctimas han adquirido una legitimidad social y política inédita en el mundo contemporáneo. A la luz de dicho fenómeno y los debates que ha generado en las ciencias sociales y humanas, en este artículo analizamos cómo se construye la identidad de víctima en Bojayá, un municipio del litoral pacífico colombiano donde fueron masacradas más de ochenta personas en 2002 durante un combate entre las FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo) y las AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia). Apoyados en entrevistas y datos de campo, argumentamos que el trauma social de la masacre y el sufrimiento son el motor de la agencia política de las víctimas y el medio que les permite devenir sujetos políticos. A partir de conceptos del psicoanálisis lacaniano, concluimos que la nominación de víctima en Bojayá posibilita que sus habitantes —antes invisibilizados— existan para el Otro de la nación y del escenario internacional

Social trauma Social suffering

La masacre de Bojayá como trauma social