Abstract

VENEGAS CARRILLO, Juan Camilo  and  CLAVIJO POVEDA, Jairo. Citizens at Risk: Power Supply Modernization, Burn Victims, and Biolegitimacy in Colombia. univ.humanist. [online]. 2016, n.82, pp.249-277. ISSN 0120-4807.  https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.uh82.ceme.

Between 1950 and 1980 the Colombian state institutions underwent an accelerated modernization process reflected on the bureaucratic reorganization and public policies that had a deep impact on society and shaped the future of the relationship between government and citizens. In this article we will focus our attention on a power supply policy related to cooking on gasoline-powered stoves which had a painful impact on Colombian society, as it led to over four decades of burn victims. The text covers a study with a topic and approach which articulate social and anthropological perspectives that make evident the physical and moral costs of the modernization of the nation. We aim to develop a critical approach based on the notion of device regarding a phenomenon that, until now, had not been studied in Colombia. For this purpose we carried out a qualitative analysis that had the press of the time, interviews with surviving actors, and statistical data as primary sources.

Keywords : device; biolegitimacy; risk; burn victims; cooking.

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