Abstract

CRUZ, Julio. Urban violence, “social cleansing” and armed conflict in Caldas, 1980-2006. Entramado [online]. 2023, vol.19, n.2, e9.  Epub Oct 27, 2023. ISSN 1900-3803.  https://doi.org/10.18041/1900-3803/entramado.2.9726.

The forms of violence that affect urban contexts, generally known as "social cleansing", are addressed in the department of Caldas between 1980 and 2006. These will be analyzed along with the growth of the illegal armed groups, with special emphasis on paramilitarism. The objective is to highlight the discursive strategies that are applied by powerful groups to stigmatize certain practices and social actors, mainly through the media. Critical discourse analysis was used, applied to the statements referring the mentioned phenomenon, and Foucault's thesis regarding normalization devices and discrimination between normal and abnormal in the dynamics of power relations were followed. The moral perspective that is at the base of "social cleansing" is also assumed and the reasons for its persistence are postulated. The results show a process that goes from dispersion to systematicity in relation to social extermination and its discursive manifestations. The conclusions show the persistence of the phenomenon in contemporary contexts.

Keywords : Critical discourse analysis; armed conflict; social cleansing; normalization; paramilitarism; violence.

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