Objective/Context:

In this article, we focus on the symbolic and practical dimensions of the paramilitary's management of the corporality of the enemy in their heyday after the unification of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and followed by the military in the framework of the Democratic Security Policy of former president Álvaro Uribe. To do so, we approach how these dimensions materialize, become evident, and circulate in the social sphere from the knowledge that forensic anthropologists produce about these bodies, violence, and conflict.

Methodology:

The material presented and analyzed here is the result of an ethnographic approximation to the practice of forensic anthropological experts of the Prosecution Office. We present a methodology that we call dialogical and reflexive. It combines a self-ethnographic exercise of Jaime's practice and conversations led by María Fernanda to delve into his experiences, concepts, and practices. We feed this methodology with interviews with three forensic anthropologists, who have similar trajectories to Jaime's. We also carried out an archival research of the years included here.

Conclusion:

In this article, we present how forensic anthropologists' qualitative knowledge (together with other forensic experts' knowledge) serves both as a testimony of what happened to the bodies and, at the same time, produces the very thing that it studies. To this extent, it co-produces conflict, violence, victims, and perpetrators, shedding light on the political dimension to the practice of forensic identification.

Originality:

Usually, studies about the social effects of forensic sciences present forensic knowledge as a truth-telling and neutral testimony about violent events. In this article, we have focused on how forensic knowledge (like any other) co-produces the very thing that it studies. As such, we point out and reveal its profound political implications, and, to this extent, contribute to broadening what is understood by forensic knowledge in contexts of transitional justice and its possible social effects.

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