From the ancestral rite to the modern rite. Around Leopardo al Sol by Laura Restrepo

This article proposes an analysis of Laura Restrepo’s Leopardo al sol (1993), a novel that proposes a sociocultural interpretation of the impact of the illegal economies of drug trafficking on traditional society. By analyzing the ingredients of the convention and poetics narco in the text, we observe how the violence represented in Leopardo al sol takes the form of a particular syncretism of modern elements of a civilization of spectacle and archaic elements intrinsic to mentalities anchored in mythical and magical thinking.

The photographic ritual: photography and nature in Colombia around 1900

Photographs of nature in Colombia around 1900 were to a large extent the first images that were taken of regions and populations. Therefore, despite the difficulty of being interpreted as documents, they allow us to understand ways of looking and analyzing, positioning and conditioning the landscapes represented. Based on intensive research in various public and private archives, is presented an analysis of the connections between landscape, nature and photography in Colombia. Through a semiological analysis, I seek to understand the way in which nature, an invisible element devoid of temporality, found its meaning and its own stylistic identity through photography.

The article discusses how local engagement can contribute to preventing or ceasing ongoing conflicts. By the comparative analysis of three case studies – Somaliland, the Idjwi island in eastern Congo and Colombia, the author examines what methods do the local inhabitants use in order to successfully maintain peace and build a coherent society. The research on a bottom-up approach may supplement the strategies implemented by the international organisations of peace-building or peace-keeping missions, which usually neglect the engagement of local society and thus do not ensure sustainable peace.