Youth provoking peace: an intersectional approach to territorial peacebuilding in Colombia

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines how youth (re)construct a sense of self and belonging in the aftermath of displacement and armed conflict in Colombia. I draw on ethnographic research with the Youth Peace Provokers of the Alta Montaña (Jóvenes Provocadores de Paz de la Alta Montaña) movement in rural Colombia to analyze the construction and performance of gendered identities among youth peacebuilders. Part one examines how youth navigate the gendered landscape of memory to (re)construct self and place in a context where militarised masculinities circulate and inscribe social power. Part two illustrates the ways in which gendered experiences of violence shape how and who participates in peacebuilding in the aftermath of war. Part three explores how youth construct their identities in response to multiple forms of violence that operate across the axes of gender, generation, race, class and territory, which extend into the emerging ‘postconflict’ landscape. I argue that participation in an intergenerational peace movement facilitates youth identity construction over and against the interlocking violence(s) of patriarchy, militarism and racism.