Who's an Expert? Leveraging Trauma as Expertise in Peacebuilding Movements

This article examines the ways in which underlying conceptions about the 'local' and the 'global' impact processes of peace negotiations and peace movements. I use evidence from the 2016 peace negotiations, and the subsequent implementation of the accords between the Colombian government and the left-wing guerrilla group, The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In this article, I analyse the impact that an international, top down, elite, and formalised peace agreement has had on local, informal, and contextually specific agreements that communities in some of the most conflict-afflicted parts of the national territory already had in place with a variety of armed actors.
Firstly, I interrogate the assumptions and the construction of perceptions of the 'local' versus the global and informal versus formal. I discuss how communities and movements utilise transnational solidarity networks to achieve their goals in light of these dichotomies. This interrogation problematises the construction of knowledge as to who is viewed as an 'expert' regarding contexts of violence, as well as negotiating and organising in the face of those contexts. Following this interrogation, I analyse how local organisations and actors have both successfully negotiated for themselves the label of 'expert' in the eyes of international and national elites through sharing their experiences with violence, and how this success is implicitly tied to recognition and support for their causes.