DISPLACEMENT IN COLOMBIA: IDENTITY FORMATIONS.

The majority of the four million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Colombia who flee from their lands and homes migrate to urban centers. The study, performed in Bogota, examines how IDPs cope with living in a new urban environment after violent displacement. The paper illustrates how IDPs navigate new socioeconomic structures in Bogota, demonstrating large scale inequality and disproportionate distribution of power. IDPs' interactions with the non-displaced public and government functionaries create new identities of the displaced. "Othering" narratives and practices manifest themselves in the form of symbolic violence. Collective IDP agency, through actions of resistance, reaffirms IDP identity and challenges "othering" narratives, leading to political action. I demonstrate how IDPs' practices challenge state bureaucracy and government workers, a new urban setting, and the non-displaced public. I analyzed interviews with IDPs, the non-displaced public, and government workers, performed participant observation in government offices and neighborhoods, and examined archival material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]