Abstract

DIAZ-AREVALO, Juan Mario. Orlando Fals Borda. The Violence in Colombia: a pioneering essay on the sociology of knowledge. Rev. Mex. Sociol [online]. 2026, vol.88, n.2, pp.269-300.  Epub May 14, 2026. ISSN 2594-0651.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iis.01882503p.2025.63049.

With an initial print run of 1 000 copies, La Violencia en Colombia (1962) was hailed as the most significant publication of the 20th century in Colombia. However, furious attacks on the book and its authors succeeded in silencing what promised to be the essential book of Colombian society after its darkest hour. The political judgement to which the book was subjected, as well as its reception, provided sociologist Orlando Fals Borda, co-editor and co-author of the book, with the raw material for a pioneering essay on the sociology of knowledge in Latin America. Based on an analysis of Fals Borda’s correspondence and unpublished texts, as well as a reconstruction of the process of writing the critical essay with which he introduces the second volume (1963), the article examines the social and scientific function of La Violencia en Colombia. Thus, the analysis of the controversies and debates that the book sparked in Colombian society offers a historical perspective on the obstacles to collective memory and understanding of the country’s conflict.

Keywords : Orlando Fals Borda; La Violencia en Colombia; sociology of knowledge; Frente Nacional; historical memory.

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