ABSTRACT
Since 2001, as part of several attempts at peace processes, approximately 60,000 combatants from various armed groups in Colombia are being reintegrated into civil society, often living secretly among the general population. This chapter is based on two and a half years of work on a documentary film called Strangers to Peace, which tracks the reintegration process of ex-combatants of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and other groups. I apply a multimodal and mutisited approach to gain insights about reintegration into the population of ex-combatants in Bogotá, the nation's megacity of 10 million inhabitants, as well as smaller, scattered rural camps. I use multiple methods, including ethnographic filmmaking, traditional structured interviews, and participant observation to highlight the sitelessness of ‘reintegration’: what is urban and what is rural as current and former FARC members move/are moved between camps and larger cities in the country? What does it mean for combatants to ‘leave’ an armed group when they still feel like they inhabit it? What does it mean for combatants to ‘re-enter society’ when they have never felt part of society in the first place? This worldly ethnographic project is grounded in creative-critical reflection, including many reflections on the process of research and knowledge construction among the ex-combatants, including dichotomies they experience and create as part of militancy and reintegration, as well as those created and reified via filmmaking. I argue that ethnography that accepts and grapples with entanglements such as these is an important part of encountering actors in any conflict and peacebuilding process, and it is especially relevant in the Colombian context, where actors are sharply divided and entrenched along ideological, political, and economic lines. I make the argument that such a worldly approach is also important to inform government policy, NGO work, and attitudes among the general public about issues, because one is always engaging with multiple actors, cultural producers, and audiences in both filmmaking and ethnographic practices.
