Abstract

TAMAYO-GOMEZ, Camilo  and  NAVARRO-BOHORQUEZ, Daniela. When Reason Does Not Explain Everything: A Transnational Look at Communicative Action by Citizens in Contexts of Armed Conflict or Violence. Palabra Clave [online]. 2018, vol.21, n.4, pp.1107-1135. ISSN 0122-8285.  https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2018.21.4.7.

The objective of this article is to present the results of an analysis of three movements involving women victims of armed conflict and contexts of violence seen from the theoretical perspective of communicative citizenry and transnationalism. Based on the development of in-depth interviews and the use of observational-participation strategies, the authors explore how affection and emotions, particularly the pain of loss, become a condition of transnational identity that catalyzes collective action to claim human rights in the public sphere. Based on the results of the study, it is possible to establish that the victims of armed conflict or those in any context marked by violence can restore social, political and cultural ties with their local communities and transform their condition as victims into one of citizens by addressing and instrumentalizing the expressive dimensions of collective action. The conclusion is that the development of communicative agency on the part of citizens generates processes to construct memory, recognition and solidarity, from a subordinate-transnational perspective. The social groups of victims on which the study is focused include Las Madres de la Candelaria (Colombia), The Women in Black (Serbia) and Our Daughters Are Back Home (Mexico). The article makes an original contribution by revealing the particular ways a new subjectivity arises, that of the citizen-victim, who ceases to be overshadowed and is empowered by their situation to take action to claim political, social, cultural and recognition rights in the public sphere.

Keywords : Communicative citizenry; transnational movements; victims; symbols; emotions; collective action.

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