“Living at the edge”: afro-colombian girls and boys in times of war: an ethnographic study on the border between Colombia and Ecuador

Abstract

In recent years, the escalation of violence in Colombia by armed groups and drug cartels has affected Afro-Colombian girls and boys, modifying their knowledge and routine. In this article I analyze the representations of girls and boys in times of war.  I stress and the importance of drawing in ethnographic work to broaden the understanding of the traumatic experience of forced displacement, spatial confinement and violence experienced by Afro-Colombian children on the border between Colombia and Ecuador. I argue that knowing the representations that girls and boys make of their spaces, daily lives and trajectories, would allow us to attend to the complexity of their testimonies about the war and, therefore, the meanings that underlie their lives in the present and future.