Queering peacebuilding in Colombia

The inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people and topics in the implementation of 2016 Colombian Peace Agreement has generated increasing international attention. Since then, a variety of transitional justice instruments have been created to respond, some of them unique in the world. Such inclusion offers revolutionary approaches to peace and justice after conflict, but has also brought debate, tensions, and backlash. This talk presents some of the novelties, conflicts, and challenges that have arisen over the course of implementing the peace accord, to open a discussion on the meanings and possibilities of queering peacebuilding.

 

José Fernando Serrano Amaya is Assistant professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures, Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). He has a Ph.D. in Education and Social Work from the University of Sydney (Australia) and Masters in Conflict Resolution from the University of Bradford (UK). He has extensive experience working for NGO, international cooperation agencies and state institutions in Colombia. His research interests include gender and sexual violence, peace building, social policies and knowledge management. He is currently researching on pedagogies and politics of reconciliation in Australia, Colombia and South Africa; on political masculinities and on arts and protection. His most recent publications are Rithholtz, S., Serrano-Amaya, J. F., Hagen, J., & Judge, M. (2023). Under Construction: Toward a Theory and Praxis of Queer Peacebuilding. Revista de Estudios Sociales, 83, 3-22; Serrano Amaya, J. F. (2022). Políticas y artivismos de género y sexualidad en contextos de violencia sociopolítica: El artivismo de Mujeres al Borde y “cuerpo, primer territorio de paz”. In C. S. Fernandes, M. Herschmann, R. d. M. Rocha, & S. L. Pereira (Eds.), Artivismos urbanos: sobrevivendo em tempos de urgência. Porto Alegre: Sulina.