Peace in Other Terms: Mutual Care Practices Between Soldiers and Frailejones at the Páramo de Sumapaz

Abstract

This article argues that the definition of peace from the international agendas on transitional justice and peacebuilding falls short because it ignores non-humans. Consequently, in the discussions on the environment for peace, non-humans are simply called “environment”, regardless of non-humans’ relationships that also make peace. Based on an ethnographic case, I explore the relationship between the military from the High Mountain Battalion N.° 1 and the frailejones (espeletia) in the Sumapaz páramo in Colombia to demonstrate how their practices of mutual care become other ways of making and understanding peace.