Paces desde abajo: desafíos y oportunidades de otra paz

Abstract

Peace built from the territories is the result of an interaction between state recognition/alignment processes, the presence of violent actors, and the dynamics of local autonomy. The chapters that make up this book broaden, deepen, and problematize these thematic axes. Each chapter addresses and offers a rich panorama of how local peace processes are created. Focusing on the department of Tolima, this book aims to create a narrative against the dominant discourses of peace in Colombia and analyzes the various ways in which local communities have been constructing other conceptions and practices of peace. The journey demonstrates the need to recognize other ways of building peace beyond the official narratives and institutional arrangements focused on reincorporation, violence reduction, and victim reparations. The regional tensions analyzed here show that, despite the constraints imposed by violent actors and public policies, organizations and communities have been able to create multiple proposals that require establishing a dialogue among them, as well as with the academia, the media, activists, Colombian society, and the international community.