Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to analyze how colombian military élites tend to represent themselves, their history and their role in building up the Nation. The analysis will focus on speeches, narratives, historical essays and interviews directly coming from the higher officers of the Regular Army

Paper long abstract:

Between 1999 and 2000 on the main streets of Bogotá appeared huge posters by the National Army. Behind the white writing Nuestro Compromiso es Colombia, we saw three soldiers with their faces painted in yellow, blue and red, like the colombian flag. This image is just an example of how the Colombian army was trying to present itself to the citizens: an institution loved by people, composed by martyrs and also a "country builder". Not just a tool to defend the boundaries but a guide to lead the nation to the right path of progress and modernity. The paper will analyze these desires of representation by dealing with discourses and texts that contribute in creating the world view of colombian military's élite. In the first two paragraphs are set out the basis on which the Colombian militaries "build" the military spirit that survives to historical contingencies and illuminates everyday military practice. In the third paragraph we will see how the memory of overcome challenges is used to prove the civil and democratic army's character. Fourth paragraph will analyse historical episodes which demonstrate from the military point of view army's quintessence as an anticommunist force. The fifth paragraph will deal with the perception that the militaries have of their enemy: an entity slowly shifting from bandolero to terrorist. The last paragraph will focus on the methodological difficulties in dealing with this issue; difficulties that interweave some of the suggestions of Writing Cultures and the anthropological use of autobiography.