The Political Ecology of Peace: Qualitative study on indigenous people´s peacebuilding in the post-conflict Colombia

Abstract: This study examines indigenous peacebuilding in Colombia in line with the liberal peace project, which frames the territorial peacebuilding in Colombia. The need for exploring alternatives to the peacebuilding paradigm as an emblem of the liberal peace is urged; as it attempts to achieve a standardized peace while developing war-torn countries. The problematic dimension of the development discourse within the liberal peace is deconstructed. Development discourse presents underdevelopment as the root of violence, an unfixed dominant narrative enabling other narratives to emerge. Such narratives are the indigenous vision on peacebuilding. The arguments of this study were elucidated by deploying a decolonial theory under the umbrella of political ecology studies. The political ecology of peace is proposed as a conceptual framework for understanding indigenous peacebuilding in Colombia. Drawing on critical ethnography and qualitative methods such as interviews, the findings suggest that indigenous visions of peacebuilding encompass a multidimensional nature rooted in a history of resistance, cultural identity and dependence on mother earth. Thus, such visions can have the potential to influence alternative models of development to build the roots of territorial peacebuilding in Colombia