Date/Time: Friday 29th September 2017, 09:30 - 17:30

Venue: Armstrong Building 2.16, Newcastle University

Last year’s signing of a peace agreement between the government and the FARC, and the current negotiations with the ELN, confirm Colombia's efforts towards drawing the armed conflict to an end. The prospect of a situation of post-conflict has dominated not only political and media discourses, but has also permeated diverse spaces of everyday life. However, Colombia has a social and political history interwoven with violence that goes beyond the long-running conflict between the government and left-wing guerrillas. Multiple violences have emerged in the country, including forced displacement, massacres and sexual violence tied to the armed conflict, illegal economies such as the drug trade and cartel violence, paramilitary organisations and their association with corruption amongst the political class, and everyday structural and symbolic violence related to the entrenched class system. This complex situation raises many questions around how we can try to think about the prospects for peace in Colombia, and how we understand violence as an everyday aspect of Colombian life. These are questions that are not limited to political analyses but which present themselves across everyday spaces of contemporary life and historical trajectories, from the spheres of education and policy to art and culture. As such, this conference will explore diverse approaches to understanding the complexities of violence and peace within the Colombian context.

View our La paz es ahora programme and La paz es ahora collated abstracts

We are delighted to announce that the keynote address will be given by Dr Rory O'Bryen, University of Cambridge.

The conference organisers are grateful for funding and support from the Institute of Latin American Studies, SAS, University of London (ILAS), Newcastle University’s Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), and Newcastle’s Postcolonial Research Group.

Any queries can be directed to Alba Griffin: a.griffin2@newcastle.ac.uk.