The dossier presented below is a compilation of analyses regarding art as a powerful form of self-protection in the context of social and armed conflict in Medellín during the last two decades of the 20th century and the early 21st century. It brings together analyses related to artistic and cultural initiatives from around fifteen community-based artistic and cultural organizations that have been working in the city’s peripheral neighbourhoods for the past fifty years. They have emerged and endured even during the most intense moments of armed conflict.
We have engaged in dialogue and observed the artistic practices of the participating organizations to understand their self-protective nature and the contexts of rights violations faced by their members and/or audiences. We turn to intersectionality to identify how the convergence of social structures generates power struggles and tensions, discrimination, and exclusion, while
also fostering a self-protective capacity situated in the concrete conditions of these territories. The dossier presents an analysis of five social components: sex-gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, age, and cosmovision. These categories allow for an understanding of the social complexity and actions of the organizations, identifying cultural and social patterns that lead to self-protective and/or rights-violating actions.
This working paper is also available in Spanish (see Related Resources).