After half a century of bloodshed and over nine million registered victims, a peace agreement was signed in 2016 between the Colombian government and the FARC insurgency. Since then, enormous political efforts have been deployed to implement the agreements and to ensure conflict victims are front and centre of the peacebuilding process. However, the challenges underpinning Colombia’s transition from war to peace are substantial: meaningful peacebuilding requires a resolute effort on behalf of all sectors of society, which raises a myriad of questions that are fascinating as they are difficult.

With this in mind, this event explores the stories we tell ourselves and each other about violent conflict. It interrogates what it means to be a ‘victim’ of violence in Colombia and the role that religious imaginaries can play in restoring social relations disrupted by war. Drawing on their doctoral research, our two panellists will engage with some of the political, psycho-social, and faith-based determinants behind the recurrence of violence and the prospects for peace in Colombia and other conflict-torn societies.