The politics of memory in post-accord Colombia: interventions from women social leaders and decolonial feminisms

Abstract

This article contributes to critical heritage debates through exploring the politics of memory in the Colombian peace process with the left-wing guerrilla group FARC-EP. Following the signature of the Peace Accord in 2016 with the FARC-EP, the current right-wing government’s (2018–2022) denialist politics have resulted in a lack of compliance of the Accord and a ‘battle for memory’. In a context of ongoing conflict and violence, I present the interventions of twelve women social leaders who were interviewed between November 2019 and January 2020. From a decolonial feminist standpoint, I narrate the contestations and nuances of the politics of memory in times of ongoing conflict and entangle these with social leaders’ heterogeneous demands for collective place-based memory, truth and justice. The interventions of social leaders involved in historical memory processes reveal an urgent need to address the instrumentalisation of memory and security concerns due to ongoing violence in post-Accord Colombia. Through centring women social leaders’ interventions and decolonial feminisms this paper seeks to contribute to ongoing national and international debates on the constructions of historical memory in times of ongoing violence and coloniality, which promote place-based, collective, democratic, plural and empathetic memory, heritage and peacemaking.