Imagining Collective Reincorporation: Perceptions of Colombia’s Novel Approach to Peacebuilding

Abstract

In Colombia, the FARC and the Colombian government have adopted a new term, ‘reincorporation,’ to refer to the FARC’s simultaneous and collective transition into society, in contrast to past programmes in which ex-combatants individually transitioned back into civilian society (generally known as ‘reintegration’). This collectivist approach is unprecedented in postconflict societies. In this Note from the Field, I seek to offer observations about this collective process of reintegration based on ethnographic fieldwork and suggest how ethnography can reveal new imaginaries for DDR scenarios.