Why language matters? Colombia’s passing theory of peace

Abstract

In 2016 the Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC) signed a final peace agreement after almost five years of the public phase of negotiations in Havana, Cuba. The set of documents released by the Negotiation Table offers a reading on the points agreed by the parts for the termination of the conflict, describe the process of the conversations, and create the foundational language for the construction of peace in the country. Following Donald Davidson’s passing theory of language, applying natural language processing (NLP) techniques and performing a close reading of key documents, we aim to understand this language of peace, how it is used and what it can tell us about the concept of peace both politically, and socially within the context of Colombia.