Abstract

ACOSTA OLAYA, Cristian  and  MAGRINI, Ana Lucía. "Cursed Words": Gaitanism, Violence and Populism in Colombia. Pap.polit. [online]. 2017, vol.22, n.2, pp.279-310. ISSN 0122-4409.  https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.papo22-2.pmgv.

In a first instance, the following article proposes an analytical itinerary around three “cursed” words (violence, populism and Gaitanism) of the Colombian historiography. In a second instance, an inquiry is suggested over those categories and over their own digressions under the light of a non-pejorative interpretation of both populism and Gaitanism. Finally, the article exhibits an exploratory hypothesis and argues that Gaitanist populism could be thought of as a particular way of processing and stopping political violence. To illustrate this proposition two specific dimensions are described to understand the Gaitanist process between 1924 and 1948: its political-comunicative practices and the oscillations between rupture and integration in the Gaitanist discursivity. By analyzing Gaitan and his followers’ discursivity, we can consider that Gaitanism, as a framework of political-communicative practices, contributed to process popular demands that diminished bipartisan tensions in Colombia in the first half of the 20 th century. The construction of a popular subject, and the “face to face” presentation between the leadership and the masses in the public arena, among other elements of the Gaitanist identity, served to process -in a belligerent but peaceful way- the political and social discontent of the time. Likewise, Gaitanism as an identity process -between 1944 and 1946- raised as a movement that arrogated the representation of a “true country” (rupture) and the construction of a restoring order for Colombian democracy (integration). In short, the proposed disquisitions in this paper seek to highlight the relevance of thinking historical processes, such as populism, through a conceptual framework aimed at the study of political identities.

Keywords : Colombia; populism; gaitanism; violence.

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