CRASSH

The following presentation is a reflection on judicial language and its influence over the construction of legal subjectivities in Colombia. Over the last 20 years Colombia has imported multiple legal discourses, from multiculturalism, to the discourse of social and Human rights. Based on the transnationalization of democratic constitutionalism after the end of the Cold War, these discourses have had great on contemporary states, becoming a mean in order to rationalize the tension between ethnic diversity and violence. This presentation searches the production of ethnic subjectivities inside the framework of implementation of multiculturalism in Colombia, comparing it to the production of legal consciousness of victims of and social activists in the context of transitional justice, applied  through the “Ley de Justicia y Paz” (Justice and Peace Law) in 2005. The social effects of these transnational discourses have been huge, and the apprehension and mobilization of these have been pivotal for the appropriation and cooptation of the struggles of social movements. My presentation investigates the effects of these discourses in the local context and reflects upon the political role and consequences of these discourses in order to achieve the normative character of rights in these settings.