Peace Pedagogy and Interpretative Frameworks of Distrust: State–Society Relations in the Colombian Peace Process

Abstract

The Havana Peace Accords of 2016 sought to end five decades of internal conflict in Colombia. As well as disarming the FARC, they promise to bring state institutions to abandoned regions and enable citizen participation. However, there is an obstacle to this which has consistently been overlooked by Juan Manuel Santos' government: a chronic distrust in the state dating back to colonialism. This article draws on ethnographic research with the Colombian government's 'peace pedagogy' team, tasked innovatively with educating citizens about the Havana Accords and incorporating them in the co-production of peace. It shows that citizens' learning about state policies, and reception of state efforts to shape that learning, are filtered through pre-existing perceptions of the state: in Colombia, interpretative frameworks of distrust. This ethnography illuminates state-society relations in the Colombian peace process, offering implications for ongoing implementation of the Accords, and posing questions for other countries in transition, arguing that historically-constituted perceptions of the state should be taken into account when communicating government policies to society. 37 Gwen BurnyeatHowever, there is low public awareness about the Accords -there has been much controversy on those elements relating to the disarmament and reincorporation of the FARC into society, eclipsing the rest. There have been many 'peace pedagogy' initiatives; by the FARC, civil society organisations (CSOs), academics, and also by the state. The government set up a 'peace pedagogy' team tasked with educating citizens about the Havana Accords and incorporating them in the co-production of peace. However, their efforts met with a challenge that has consistently been overlooked by Juan Manuel Santos' government: a chronic distrust in the state which dates back to colonialism.This article draws on ethnographic research with the Colombian government's 'peace pedagogy' team to reveal how citizens' learning about state policies, and reception of state efforts to shape that learning, are filtered through pre-existing perceptions of the state. It first explains the emergence of state 'peace pedagogy' efforts. Next it gives a theoretical overview of anthropological approaches to the state, and of ethnographies in Colombia detailing this distrust. It then discusses a particular project, Un, Dos, Tres … 1 Contemos una nueva historia (One, Two, Three … Let's tell a new story), then analyses the state-society encounters the project created, and their relevance for the broader context of the peace process. It concludes that this analysis offers implications for the ongoing implementation of the Havana Accords and suggests a framework for other transitional contexts and beyond, in emphasising the role that fundamental relationships between citizens and state play in communicating major government policies to society, and the importance of taking into account historically-constituted interpretative frameworks according to which citizens perceive the state.

Exclusion Despite Nominal Inclusion: A Critical Analysis of Participatory Development Programmes in Post‐War Colombia

“…In the SNP, insufficient funding, complicated bureaucratic processes and delays, and a lack of implementation progress have further nurtured frustration and disenchantment among all the citizens I interviewed. The consequences are serious: in addition to failing to reverse deeply entrenched distrust of the state (Burnyeat, 2020a), dramatic urban–rural inequalities remain unaddressed, ultimately threatening Colombia's prospects of achieving a lasting peace.…”

“…Staff of municipal administrations and the regional Territorial Renovation Agency offices have limited ability to prevent instances of exclusion such as those described thus far. A growing number of ethnographic studies on Colombian state institutions (Dávila, 2017;Pellegrino, 2017;Burnyeat, 2020aBurnyeat, , 2020b highlight clear awareness of the state's inefficiency, as well as a strong personal commitment to serve citizens' interests among individual officers. Lack of knowledge on the part of these officials can, however, also unintentionally inhibit citizen participation.…”

“…In line with Pellegrino's (2017) concept of ‘complying incompliantly’, false compliance appears to be the most relevant in the SNP PDET. I therefore go on to examine its visible, invisible and hidden modus operandi in the following paragraphs, pinpointing the roles therein of policy‐makers and staff of state institutions who embody what Burnyeat (2020b: 45) characterises as the Colombian ‘state's contradictory faces’.…”

A cognitive approach to the decision to trust or distrust phishing emails

“…Tsuchiya (1993), based on these cognitive processes, highlighted the idea that knowledge is the result of the interpretation of information by an individual: “when information is sense‐read through interpretative framework, it becomes knowledge” (Tsuchiya, 1993, p. 89). This concept of an interpretative framework, through which sense is given and sense is read, has already been described in the literature, notably linked to mental models (Arduin, 2014; Burnyeat, 2020; Craik, 1943).…”

Çatışma ve Barış Tesisi Süreçlerinde Çocukların Devşirilmesi ve Kullanılması Sorunu: Kolombiya Örneği

“…Güven Sorunu: UP ve M-19'un demobilize olması sonrası örneklerinde olduğu gibi silahlarını bırakan eski FARC mensuplarından yaklaşık 300 tanesinin suikast sonucu öldürülmesi ve ayrıca, eski muhariplerin güvenliğinin sağlanamaması, Kolombiya'da devletin ve kurumlarının vatandaşlarının güvenliğini sağlamak için kapasitesinin yeterliliğini sorgulanır bir noktaya getirmiştir (Ağkaya, 2021). Öte yandan, FARC ve ELN gibi örgütlerin varlığını sürdürebilmesi ve kırsal bölgelerde destek bulabilmesinin temelinde, Kolombiya'da devlete yönelik çok büyük bir güvensizlik ve aidiyet hissinin tesis edilememesi olduğu bilinmektedir (Burnyeat, 2020). Diğer taraftan bakıldığında ise FARC'ın 1990'lar boyunca başta insan kaçırma ve bombalama eylemleri olmak üzere gerçekleştirdiği terör eylemleri, özellikle kentli nüfus nazarında örgütün terörist olarak görülmesine neden olmuş ve bu yönde devam eden bir algı bırakmıştır (Thoene vd., 2020).…”