Peasant Communities, Peacebuilding, and Social Change in Colombia

My research is about the resistance and peacebuilding initiatives of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó (CdPSJA), the Cimitarra River Valley Peasant Association (ACVC), and the Carare Worker and Peasant Association (ATCC) in Colombia. These communities were created by internally displaced peasants to protect civilians, to challenge the power structures that sustain the conflict, and to eventually build peace. My central research question asks how an analysis of civil local peace initiatives that resist power networks and structures responsible for the prolongation of conflict in Colombia contributes to understanding social and political change in war-torn societies. My research is informed by the ideas and concepts of the Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci, in an attempt to offer new perspectives on peacebuilding studies. Conceiving of peacebuilding processes as struggles for hegemony, my research identifies three key elements based on which peasant communities’ role in building peace can be assessed.