Collective defence of the territorio : Vernacular concepts and practices of security in Colombia’s Pacific South-West

Abstract This article examines the ways in which three communities in South-West Colombia understand ‘security’ and the practices they adopt in pursuit of it. Building on the burgeoning literature on vernacular security, we show the centrality of territorio as the key referent object of security in the region, and a wide variety of collective efforts adopted by communities in pursuit of securing their territorios . Through this, we make three contributions to the vernacular security literature. Methodologically, we show that Participatory Action Research (PAR) can be a powerful tool for identifying and understanding vernacular concepts and practices of security. But more than this, PAR can also play a role in helping to build and sustain community-level collective security practices, bridging research and action. Empirically, we bring vernacular security analysis to a region that, to date, has not been examined, documenting discourses and practices of security that are radically different from those that have dominated (Western) security studies. Conceptually, we show how understandings and practices of security in the region draw directly upon indigenous, mestizo and Afro-Colombian cultures, histories, and epistemologies – and in many respects do not conform to Western security registers that are too often assumed to be universal. This reiterates the importance of PAR, which can help researchers avoid (unwittingly) perpetuating Western-centric assumptions about what visions of security communities are trying to achieve and how they pursue those objectives.