Transitional Justice beyond the Human

Abstract

Indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples often describe the harm caused by armed conflict in terms of damage inflicted on their traditional territories. To these peoples, the concept of territory makes reference not only to their lands but to a set of emplaced practices and relationships through which they share life with wider assemblages of human and other-than-human beings. It is the threat faced by these large communities of life that was invoked by Indigenous organizations when they succeeded in including the territory as a victim in the transitional justice framework recently implemented by the Colombian state. This article argues that the consideration of the territory as a victim means more than the full enjoyment of the land ownership rights Indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples are entitled to. Instead, said consideration challenges some received notions regarding justice and reparation, particularly because war becomes an experience that extends beyond human losses and environmental degradation. The terms and practices mobilized by Indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples compel us to examine the limits that concepts such as human rights, reparation, or even damage have in the understanding of war and its aftermath.