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Paper short abstract

Invisible borders delineating territories controlled by armed groups shape daily life in many of Medellín’s peripheral neighbourhoods. Through mobile interviews and sensory mapping, this paper examines embodied cartographies of these borders that shape residents' experiences of armed violence.

Paper long abstract

This paper explores how residents of peripheral neighbourhoods in Medellín, Colombia perceive and navigate territorial control by illegal armed groups through embodied forms of knowledge. It draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2018–2019, combining mobile interviews with sensory mapping. While Medellín has experienced a significant decline in homicide rates and is now known for innovative urban planning rather than extreme levels of urban violence, armed actors linked to paramilitary and narcotrafficking structures continue to regulate everyday life in many marginalised areas. One key feature of this control is the existence of “invisible borders” that delimit territories and govern movement.

These borders are “invisible” because they are not marked and can shift in location and permeability depending on the state of relations between neighbouring armed groups. Residents develop mental maps that allow them to avoid the heightened danger they associate with certain areas, or with crossing these boundaries.

Focusing on the experience of crossing or avoiding invisible borders, the paper examines how insecurity is corporeally experienced. During mobile interviews, fear and vigilance were enacted through subtle bodily adjustments such as changes in walking pace, posture, tone of voice, or heightened attention to their surroundings. By foregrounding how bodies attune to shifting sensescapes of threat and protection, the paper shows how residents develop practical and corporal forms of knowledge and expertise that enable them to negotiate everyday life in spaces shaped by chronic yet uneven violence.