“Peace cannot cost us our lives”
Narratives of security and discourse surrounding violence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23311149 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Colleen Alena O'Brien (0000-0002-9350-4659, University of Miami, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Language and Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1569-2159 • E-ISSN: 1569-9862 |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1075/jlp.24132.obr |
| OpenAlex | W7171942067 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
Following the 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), hundreds of demobilized ex-guerrillas have been assassinated despite the formal end of the armed conflict. This article examines how FARC ex-guerrillas discursively construct (in)security in post-accord Colombia and how these narratives contest dominant state understandings of violence and peace. Drawing on linguistic anthropology, narrative theory, and critical discourse studies, I analyze a corpus of over 100,000 words of interview data collected during ethnographic filmmaking and participant observation in a FARC reintegration camp, supplemented by public statements, social media posts, and official communications from the FARC political party. Three interrelated narrative themes emerge. First, ex-guerrillas consistently portray insecurity as an immediate and embodied condition, characterized by the constant expectation of assassination. Second, they frame contemporary violence as part of a long historical trajectory of systematic persecution of the Colombian left, particularly through comparisons with the extermination of the Unión Patriótica. Third, they articulate a paradoxical relationship with the state, simultaneously relying on it for protection while portraying it as complicit in, or unwilling to prevent, ongoing violence. These narratives are sustained through recurring discursive strategies that construct a morally coherent collective identity while leaving perpetrators deliberately vague. I argue that this strategic vagueness constitutes discursive ambiguity: the use of shifting or unspecified actors that enables speakers to articulate insecurity, maintain political agency, and navigate contested political realities without assigning fixed blame. More broadly, the article demonstrates how narratives of insecurity challenge state-centered conceptions of security and reveal the importance of non-elite perspectives for understanding peace, violence, and conflict transformation.
Construct (python library) · CONTEST · Ethnography · Government (linguistics) · Identity (music) · Narrative · Politics · Vagueness · Global Security and Public Health · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |