Arthur Néron-Bancel
A psychosocial approach to understanding the ecological effects of armed conflict and forced migration in Cali, Colombia, and the implications for stabilization and development
The city of Cali, Colombia, has been recognized as one of the most violent cities in the world.3 More specifically, in the city’s most troubled communes, a large portion of the city’s population appears to be trapped in a vicious cycle caused by the mutually reinforcing effects of socio-economic exclusion, poverty, and violence.
Faced with an urgent social crisis driven by seemingly intractable, multi-dimensional forces, what solutions can be offered? While no simple panacea can be hoped for, a search for the root causes of the crisis is perhaps the best way to help identify which measures can serve to stabilize the situation and perhaps even gradually reverse the momentum.
This paper focuses on studying how certain communities in Cali are affected by the psychosocial impacts of social stress and cultural dislocation caused by past and on-going armed conflict and forced displacement. The objective is to emphasize the importance of studying the interaction between the individual and his or her immediate social ecology when trying to understand the persistence of socio-political violence in Cali. Taking an ecological approach helps us to appreciate the role of both individual psychology and family and community structures, and the crucial functions the latter often serve, such as the provision of psychosocial support or the (re)production of socio-cultural meaning. Through this lens, we can better gauge the consequences that arise when a combination of socio-political violence and forced migration systematically chips away at these basic pillars of society.
Professor: Michael Wessells
Date: May 2014
Words: 8,650
The role of myth in cultural power struggles
This paper seeks to explore the cultural and symbolic manifestations of the power struggles that structure and often define social systems.
Working from a perspective largely influenced by, but not limited to, post-colonial theory and the lessons learned from the resistance and emancipation struggles of colonized societies throughout the 20th century, we take a particular interest in the role that ‘myth’ can play as a strategy of resistance and subversion against established and institutionalized cultural orders that seek to bolster their authority by laying claims to ‘the truth’.
Professor: Hamid Dabashi
Date: December 2013
Words: 10,600