Author Archives: Lina Pinto García

Lina Pinto García (@linabeatri) is a PhD Candidate in Science and Technology Studies at York University (Toronto, Canada) and member of the Centre for Imaginative Ethnography (CIE). Her research interrogates the relationship between biomedicine, vector-borne diseases, warfare and peace in Colombia (www.linapintogarcia.com). As a contributing editor at Platypus, she focuses on topics related to healthcare, biomedical research, non-humans, state ethnography, warfare and violence, and art-based ethnographic methodologies, with a particular interest in Latin America.
Painting of a person strapped into a gurney to be airlifted from a forest. Two soldiers stand on either side.

The militarization of life under war, “post-conflict,” and the COVID-19 crisis

Like many others in Colombia, Nairys is a campesina for whom the experience of confinement has been one of dramatic disruption. Marked by restricted mobility, which means very difficult access to water and subsistence crops, being locked down also implies the reduced possibility to buy medicine, food, and other basic supplies. As for many other women, stay-at-home ordinances have also meant more care work, as the responsibilities of feeding and tending for her relatives fall heavily on her. Likewise, confinement involves being permanently under the same roof with her partner, which has exposed Nayris to more possibilities of being mistreated and abused by him, particularly as pressures over mere subsistence increase. (read more...)

Photograph of vials in a plastic tray.

Tweaking Narratives of War

Stories of war and violence have permeated the daily life of Colombians for more than half a century. However, in the last decade, the voices and narratives about the armed conflict have diversified and expanded significantly. This is mainly due to the institutionalization of remembrance processes, civil society initiatives, and the opportunities opened up by the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Although these actions still fall short of the effort needed for a fuller reconciliation, they have introduced, little by little, profound changes in the ways in which society and the state remember the war, understand the armed conflict, recognize their victims, and seek to transform the past and present of violence. (read more...)