Cette recherche a pour objectif de saisir les mobilisations plurielles et éclatées autour de la mise en récit publique du conflit armé dans un contexte de violence en Colombie. Inspirée par les travaux sur les sorties de conflit et la sociologie de la mémoire, elle prend comme terrain d’observation les lieux de mémoire (musées et maisons de la mémoire, monuments) qui se multiplient depuis la fin des années quatre-vingt-six. Elle envisage les lieux de mémoire comme des objets pertinents pour saisir les rapports de force politiques et sociaux qui se nouent dans un contexte de sortie de conflit très relatif. À partir d’entretiens et d’observations ethnographiques menées dans trois lieux de mémoire, ce travail questionne les effets des lieux de mémoire sur le politique. Il met en évidence les limites du pouvoir des lieux de mémoire à encadrer les mémoires et à participer à la fin du conflit. En revanche, ils pacifient le rapport historiquement conflictuel qu’entretient l’État avec certains groupes sociaux en reformulant des problèmes politiques et économiques sous l’angle du symbolique et en créant de nouvelles formes de luttes et d’engagement politique. Les lieux de mémoire reconfigurent les rapports entre gouvernants et gouvernés : à travers mise en récit du conflit armé, des revendications sociales et politiques en sortent pacifiées et re-politisées. / The aim of this research is to capture the plural and fragmented mobilisations around the elaboration of a public narrative of the armed conflict in a context of violence in Colombia. Inspired by works on conflict resolution and on the sociology of memory, it takes as its field of study the places of memory (museums and houses of memory, monuments) that have multiplied since the end of the eighties. It considers the places of memory as relevant objects to grasp the relationships that come into being between political and social forces in a context of a very relative conflict resolution. From interviews and ethnographic observations conducted in three places of memory, the thesis questions the effects of places of memory on politics. This work highlights the limits of the power of the influence that places of memory have on the framing of the memories and in participating in the conflict resolution. On the other hand, they pacify the historically conflictual relationship that the state maintains with certain social groups by reformulating political and economic problems, giving them a symbolic prism, and by creating new forms of struggle and political activism. Places of memory reconfigure relations between those that govern and the governed: through the elaboration of a narrative for the armed conflict, social and political demands come out pacified and re-politicized.

Religion has often been viewed as a source of conflict and violence in international relations. Yet history provides that religion has also been a source and inspiration for peace building and non-violent resistance. The role of religious leaders in conflict transformation has been treated as a marginal phenomenon. Appleby (2000) points out that identifying and documenting the roles of religious actors in resolving protracted conflicts remains an unfinished task. This thesis is an attempt to meet such challenge by focusing on religious leaders and their role in search of solutions in deeply rooted conflicts. Working from the premise that religious leaders can make a substantial contribution in conflict transformation, the overarching goal of this thesis is to examine what roles religious actors play and how equipped they are to serve their communities in their capacity as peacemakers.