When the Forest Does Not Sing Anymore. Cuerpo-territorio Approach of Amazonian Indigenous Women to the Concepts of Conflict and Violence

Abstract

Based on an ethnographic study, this paper investigates the process of indigenous women in Colombia who are members of the organisation OPIAC and underpins the narratives and situated knowledge they propose in order to understand what conflict and violence mean from their personal and community experiences. The research identifies how cuerpo-territorio is an epistemological starting point that emerges from reinterpreting their worldviews and helps explain the ontological relationship between body, territory, identity, and spirituality. Unpacking this premise, the cuerpo-territorio approach to peace and conflict implies a more reflective and holistic understanding, including other dimensions and ethos. Dispossession of ancestral lands, exploitation of territory, forced displacement and violence against women constitute personal and collective harms that create imbalance and disharmony. Finally, the analysis states that by adopting intersectional and decolonial approaches in critical peace studies, we can shed light on what is silenced by dominant approaches and challenge the limits of institutional and anthropocentric conceptions. Likewise, this “inclusion” must nevertheless be accompanied by material conditions since, despite the signing of the Havana Peace Agreement, indigenous peoples remain under the crossfire of armed actors in their ancestral territories.