Untold memories: FARC ex-combatant women in the Colombian Caribbean

Abstract

Introduction. During the Colombian armed conflict, women played an important role within the guerrillas. Currently, they are also involved in the reincorporation into civilian life, because of the final agreement between the Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Objective. The article explores the memories of a group of female ex-combatants in the reincorporation process in two Reincorporation Territorial Spaces (ETCR) in the Colombian Caribbean. Methodology. These have been collected through a series of participatory methodologies and traditional social science methods that we developed within the framework of a Diploma in conflict resolution, aimed at indigenous and non-indigenous women ex-combatants. Results and discussion. The main argument is that women ex-combatants have developed bodily memories of their life in the war that are evidenced in a series of new subjectivities that have emerged during their reincorporation process. On the one hand, bodily memories of individual, collective and territorial care, as well as memories of productive practices that show forms of agency and diverse subjectivities. On the other hand, the forms of care, solidarity, resistance, and the desire to live as part of their memories about their Sexual Autonomy (AS in Spanish).