Intertwined Moral Economies: Homage to Victims and the Normalisation of Violence in Peru and Colombia; [Economias morais entrelaçadas: homenagem às vítimas e normalização da violência na Colômbia e no Peru]

Lavielle J.; Delacroix D. · Antipoda (2026) · DOI: 10.7440/antipoda63.2026.02

Resumen

this article examines how peacebuilding processes in Peru and Colombia are shaped by forms of structural, symbolic, and everyday violence inherited from past wars. It foregrounds a central paradox: although reconcil iation policies condemn armed violence, they may at the same time tolerate or even reproduce other forms and degrees of socio-economic, racial, symbolic, gender-based, and even lethal violence. Using the concept of moral economy, the analysis focuses on the everyday ways in which violence is justified. It shows how multiple forms of violence—rooted in armed conflict and colo nial histories—persist and become intertwined. This raises a key question: can aspirations for peace and reconciliation coexist with the acceptance of certain levels of violence? To explore the relationship between past and present struc tural and symbolic violence, the article places particular emphasis on language. It examines registers of justification and the representations through which civilian populations make sense of the violence they experience in their daily lives. The analysis draws on two distinct ethnographic studies conducted in the rural Andes of Peru and in two sites of memory in Colombia. The findings indicate that peacebuilding mechanisms underestimated persistent struc tural inequalities and social environments marked by interpersonal conflict, which formed the basis for lethal violence. The social legitimacy attributed to violence—whether used to punish “bad” citizens or to restore social justice— reveals how deeply these dimensions are interconnected. The article argues that the use of violence, the hierarchical valuation of lives, and socio-economic violence continue to characterise Colombian and Peruvian societies, regard less of whether they are officially at peace or at war. © (2026), (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia). All rights reserved.