Razones de vida
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2833974 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brett Troyan (Cornell University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 392-393 |
| Publication date | 2002-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Hispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00182168-82-2-392 |
| OpenAlex | W267617815 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
It is no secret that Colombia is in crisis because of a growing conflict between the nation-state, paramilitaries, guerrillas, and drug traffickers. In the search for answers to this endemic violence, a new wave of literature that focuses on the participants of this conflict has emerged in recent years. This literature, which aims to entertain as well as educate, explores the personal lives and family history of these protagonists. This approach allows authors to address relatively unexplored topics such as the participation of women in guerrilla armies. For instance, Patricia Lara’s Las mujeres en la guerra/Women in the War (2001) interviews women on opposing sides of the war and delves into issues of gender and domestic violence.Razones de vida by Vera Grabe illustrates this new trend and yet stands apart because it is an autobiography/memoir. The autobiographical nature of this work gives it a unique perspective. The author, a former leader of the guerrilla army M-19, purports to explain why she chose the life of a guerrilla fighter and why she took up arms to achieve social justice and change in Colombia. The M-19 was founded in response to what was perceived as the stolen presidential elections of 1970 when the candidate of the Conservative Party defeated his counterpart in the populist party. Most scholars agree that what differentiated the M-19 from the rest of the guerrilla groups present in Colombia was its nationalistic character and its emphasis on democracy.Vera Grabe’s memoir sheds light on why and how the M-19 came to enjoy considerable legitimacy and popularity amongst the Colombians to the extent that after their demobilization in 1990, this guerrilla group was initially very successful in the national assembly and congressional elections. The reasons for this popularity, as Grabe’s memoir elucidates, are the idealism, patriotism, and honesty that characterized most participants of the M-19. Indeed this group carried out symbolic operatives such as the seizure of Bolivar’ sword, the takeover of the Dominican Republic Embassy, and the theft of thousands of arms from an army barrack in a deliberate effort to capture the admiration and attention of the Colombian people. These operatives were ultimately strategic failures, but this combination of panache and the use of national symbols was effective in gaining the public’s sympathy.Vera Grabe begins her memoir with her birth and family history. She brings to life with moving and compelling writing the hopes of her parents who were Germans of Jewish origins when they traveled to Colombia to start a new life. She masterfully recreates her childhood: we can almost see and hear her father working in his wood workshop in the Bogotá of the 1950s. Vera Grabe’s decision to join the M-19, as the memoir makes clear, was intrinsic to her love for Colombia and to the romantic appeal of the Left in the late sixties and early seventies. Her recounting of how she became a member of the M-19 is a powerful testimony to this group’s relative openness in contrast to the more rigid and orthodox marxist organizations.The fascinating and absorbing aspect of this book is that the connections between the “personal” and “political” are explored to their fullest extent. Readers interested in gender and the politics of the Left will gain a new understanding of how machismo afflicted Colombian guerrilla armies, even Vera Grabe’s beloved M-19. The author is honest about how she felt silenced and ignored at times because of her gender; however, her affection and love for her compañeros tempers her criticism.The memoir also makes an important contribution for scholars interested in the transnational nature of the Left in the seventies and eighties. Vera Grabe, after being tortured and imprisoned, left Colombia to work as the M-19’s international representative and she narrates the many trips she took to Panama, Cuba, Libya, to name but a few countries.In sum, this book is much more than a recounting of decades of political involvement. It is also a labor of love for her daughter and a testimony to the terrible personal cost that Vera Grabe has paid for her political choices. This memoir deserves a wide readership and it should be translated
Biography · Citizen journalism · Democracy · Guerrilla warfare · Memoir · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Conflict, Peace, and Violence in Colombia · Gender Studies · History and Politics in Latin America · Law · Memory, violence, and history
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,32 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2020 (14) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |