Diana Hoyos Gómez, Ph.D.

Diana Hoyos-Gómez earned her PhD in Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2020. She is a political anthropologist whose research interests and areas of expertise include ethnography of the state, political and structural violence, human rights, peace building, post-conflict transitions, rural communities, Latin America and Colombia.  

Her research focuses on the long-term effects of political violence and state building from below in rural communities in the post-conflict transition in Colombia. This study relied on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in campesino communities in the region of Montes de María. She examined forms of political violence carried out in campesino communities by state actors during the armed conflict and the long-term effects of that violence on campesinos and their relationships with the state. She also analyzed how citizen-state relationships and experiences of the state are shaped in rural areas in the context of processes centered on victims of the armed conflict and the 2016 peace accord between the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas. 

Her research contributes to conceptual discussions on the ethnography of the state, political violence, and post-conflict transitions. It advances the understanding of less visible forms of political violence, state building from below, and dynamics of continuity and change in post-conflict transitions. Her work has been supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the Inter-American Foundation. She is currently working on a book manuscript tentatively titled Experiencing the State in Rural Colombia: Effects of Political Violence and State Building in the Post-conflict Transition.  

Diana Hoyos-Gómez’s current research explores citizenship practices and violence in the Colombian territories in the context of the implementation of the 2016 peace accord. She examines processes of claiming rights to the state and social mobilization and how these practices interact with the territorial implementation of the peace accord. She also analyzes some continuities and changes of violent dynamics in the territories and the effects of post-accord violence on communities and inhabitants.

She has also conducted research on the organizational processes of women and victims of armed conflict, local democracy, and memory in Colombia. She has taught courses on political theory, research methodology, introduction to cultural anthropology, violence and memory in Latin America, anthropology of violence, and anthropological thought.

Selected Publications

Hoyos-Gómez, Diana. 2024. “State Abandonment and Territorial Citizenship in Rural Colombia: Montes de María After the Peace Accords.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI). https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.14116

Read the article (read-only version): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/UQDUSWNF3KQDUNNNHJZY?target=10.1111/1467-9655.14116

Hoyos Gómez, Diana and Angélica Nieto. 2017. “Procesos Organizativos de Mujeres y Víctimas del Conflicto Armado y sus Relaciones con la Democracia Local en el Oriente Antioqueño. Revista Desafíos 29 (1), 139-175. https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/desafios/a.4484

 

Course Taught at WVU

ANTH 254 Cultural Anthropology

ANTH 393A Violence and Memory in Latin America

ANTH 393A Anthropology of Violence

ANTH 490 Teaching Practicum

ANTH 359 Anthropological Thought