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In 2019, I directed the installation-performance Relatos Nebulosos (RN), featuring relatives of forcibly disappeared individuals in Colombia. In this article, I explore the artistic visibility of these victims, who demonstrate resilience and demand justice, while also contributing to the critical discourse surrounding their struggle. To do so, I establish three key aspects. Firstly, I provide contextualization by sharing the stories of the RN protagonists, offering insights into the regions they refer to and conveying the profound impact of disappearance on their families, who grapple with the uncertainty surrounding their loved ones' whereabouts. Secondly, I delve into the ethical dimension of the project, witnessing how the protagonists meticulously construct a documentary narrative that relies on their own bodies, simultaneously navigating a complex emotional relationship with the documents associated with this process--expressing affection towards photographs and disdain for bureaucratic paperwork. Lastly, I highlight the significance of art in granting a voice to the victims, outlining my endeavors to create new avenues of expression by reimagining the daily lives of the RN protagonists through a montage, while drawing metaphors between the tangible elements of the artwork and the elusive nature of forced disappearance. Ultimately, this article concludes that RN thrives on the improbable, enabling art to give form to the uncertainty experienced by these families and drive social strategies that facilitate the search for the missing, leading to a sense of inner peace for their loved ones. It also asserts that both academic and non-academic realms have the potential to contribute to a world where this heinous crime is combated. The article's uniqueness lies in revealing the behind-the-scenes of the creative process behind RN, analyzing the reconfiguration of the everyday experiences of the relatives into a performative installation and examining their interaction with bureaucratic formats related to disappearance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the twentieth century, the work of forensic professionals in contexts of war has become a topic of particular interest, among other reasons, because of its importance in the clarification of serious human rights violations. The purpose of this article is to characterize the experience of frustration and emotional management strategies used by forensic anthropologists working in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. Using semi-structured interviews with ten forensic anthropologists working in the search for victims of enforced disappearance in Colombia, along with autobiographical analysis, the authors identify the strategies through which forensic professionals manage frustration in a context of armed conflict and political violence. All interviews were held in Bogota in 2019. The forensic anthropologists interviewed were found to be confronted with potential sources of frustration such as complex political scenarios, difficulties of the geographical context to carry out the search processes, long-lasting situations of impunity, and high expectations of the victims' families to find their loved ones' remains. The article thus describes the ways in which forensic anthropologists emotionally manage these difficulties in order to maintain their motivation and efforts to continue their work. The authors employ a novel perspective to explore the emotional management of the impacts of work in contexts of political violence and war, revealing the importance of research that allows us to recognize the subject involved before the pain of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cemeteries are propitious settings in which to mourn the death of a loved one. Such expressions of grief have particular social logics associated with there being a corpse buried in the grave. But how is the relationship of the mourner transformed when there is no body as a result of a forced disappearance? Do the mourners’ interactions differ when there is an identified body as opposed to when there is not? Guided by these questions, Jardín Cementerio Universal de Medellín is presented as a space that unveils strategies used to deal with the complexity of mourning a loved one’s death. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the manifestations of mourning present in graves with identified and unidentified bodies. To this end, an ethnographic exercise was conducted involving a qualitative analysis of funerary material culture and non-participant observation. The study documents the importance of having a physical space, the gravestone, where one can grieve the loss of a loved one. It is revealed that this space is especially relevant in the case of the indirect victims of forced disappearance, who go through complex mourning processes in the absence of a grave to hold their loved one’s body. In this case, the burial ground is a space that bears witness to the acts of violence that Colombia has suffered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article attempts to perform a communicational mapping of enforced disappearances in Colombia. We do this by studying maternities that proliferate their meaning, feelings and pains as a consequence of the stresses and forces triggered by such happenings. These painful events are always reenacted by words, by social performances and in life itself. This article originates in an investigation performed about the social movement "Asociación Caminos de Esperanza Madres de la Candelaria". This organization is mostly integrated by peasant women from the Antioquia Department, who have lost their beloved ones as a result of the Colombian armed conflict. We study the role of expressive collective agency in empowering a transformation of female or feminized subjects- either collective or individual-, through the accounts of five women who confronted violence before and after the enforced disappearance episode. Data was gathered through in-depth Interview and workshops. Personal conversations permeated the whole process and allowed to secure close communication with the participants. Rather than searching for answers, it was possible instead to formulate new questions about trajectories, connections, cuts, linkages and disjunctions among subjects. We were able to identify women who managed to successfully use the process as a way of further developing their subjectivity, which, in turn, led them to transform their lives and increase their autonomy and public prominence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Razón Crítica is the property of La Fundacion Universidad de Bogota Jorge Tadeo Lozano and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Sociology & Technoscience / Sociología y Tecnociencia is the property of Universidad de Valladolid, Escuela Universitaria de Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)