Bodies, affections, and memories are the focus of women searching in Buenaventura: mapping pain and resisting oblivion

Abstract

This text aims to understand the psychosocial effects of forced disappearance on a group of women searchers from Buenaventura. For this purpose, a qualitative methodology was employed, including semi-structured interviews, focus group meetings, and textual corpora. The systematization of these experiences resulted in the following affective categories: pain inscribed in the body, the relationship between absence, emptiness, and presence, and rage as a transformative force. It was found that, in their role as searchers and caregivers, these women assume the responsibility of maintaining family and community cohesion, often at the cost of their own physical and emotional well-being. Likewise, in their work searching for missing people, they have managed to create spaces where they can inhabit grief, rage, and sadness without being silenced. It is recommended to continue nurturing spaces of living memory, where the voices of victimized people can challenge hegemonic narratives through exercises that connect the individual and the collective.