Scenes from Colombian Minefields

• In Event: Old Problems, New Representations: Toward an Experimental Visual Anthropology in the Andes

Abstract

Robocop. The Paralympic Games. Avatar. Humanitarian fantasies about reparation and bodily transcendence through prosthetic technologies have become almost unquestioned. In this presentation, I will discuss film’s potential to dismantle what Bruno Latour has called “black boxing” or the invisible processes by which science, medicine, corporate entities, and dominant cultural institutions form commonsensical notions and stories about the world. I will discuss my film “Bodies at War: A Colombian Landmine Story” as a case study. In Colombia, military, paramilitary (AUC), and leftist guerillas (FARC and ELN) clash over political power, territory, and natural resources against the backdrop of an illicit narcotics trade. A legacy of its unremitting decades-long civil war, Colombia is one of the most mine-affected countries in the world. “Bodies at War” offers a window into Colombian people's lives as they strive to rehabilitate themselves and others after landmine injury. It takes an unflinching look of what rehabilitation entails, the industries that grow around it, and the ambivalence people feel towards humanitarian campaigns, which aim to help them. At the center of the discussion, I will ask: Can film produce counter-narratives that effectively intervene in contemporary discourse that surrounds peace and post-conflict resolutions in Colombia today? What entrapments are inherent in making things visible?

Author

• Emily Cohen, New York University