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Languages of Stateness: A Study of Space and El Pueblo in the Colombian State∗

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Stacey Hunt
Stacey Hunt*
Affiliation:
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
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Abstract

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In this paper I move beyond binary conceptions of the Colombian state as either strong or weak, failed or successful. Instead, I analyze particular sublime and gross qualities of the state as they are expressed through contestations over the space of el pueblo. I argue that this space—el pueblo—has been constructed around an internal contradiction. On one hand, it is figured as distant and in opposition to the city-state. On the other hand, it occupies the center of the nation. Marginalized by the official state, competing actors have incorporated el pueblo into “shadow states” that subvert the sublime image of the state. Lacking legitimacy within el pueblo, both the official and shadow states employ institutionalized violences in order to assert symbolic, discursive, and physical control over it. The result is the creation of a “culture of terror” that marks the real and imaginary space of el pueblo. The “spatialized vocabularies of citizenship” articulated by each actor—the state, shadow states, and el pueblo itself—from these margins mutually constitute Colombia's competing and intertwining “languages of stateness.”

Resumen

Resumen

En ese artículo, sobrepaso concepciones binarias del estado colombiano tal como fuerte o débil, exitoso o fracasado. Contrariamente, analizo las cualidades particulares del estado, tanto las sublimes como las flagrantes, en sus manifestaciones tras las disputas sobre el espacio del pueblo. Mantengo que este espacio—el pueblo—ha sido construido alrededor de una contradicción interna: por un lado, ha sido pensado lejos y en contra de la ciudad-estado; por otro lado, forma el centro de la nación. Marginado por el estado oficial, el pueblo ha sido incorporado a “estados de sombra” por actores competitivos, los cuales minan la imagen sublime del estado. Vacíos de legitimidad, tanto el estado oficial como el de sombra, emplean violencias institucionalizadas con el fin de controlar al pueblo simbólica, discursiva y físicamente. El resultado ha sido la creación de una “cultura de terror”, la cual define el espacio real e imaginario del pueblo. Desde los márgenes, cada actor—el estado, los estados de sombra, y el pueblo—articula su propio vocabulario de ciudadanía. Estos vocabularios compiten, interactúan y en fin, constituyen los contrastantes e interrelacionados “lenguajes de ser estado”.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , October 2006 , pp. 88 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

∗

I would like to thank Dr. Leela Fernandes for reading and commenting on each and every draft of this paper, Dr. Carlos Degregori for clarifications and insights on el pueblo, and three anonymous readers from LARR whose comments further refined this work.

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