La palabra y el fuego. Insulto, política y cultura en la historia de Colombia

This dissertation examines the discomfort around the insult in different specialized languages, analyzing the relationship between insult, politics, and culture in the history of Colombia. When viewed as an element of discourse, the insult illuminates certain critical events and subjects in the history of the nation. The insult is understood in a wide variety of ways --as direct enunciation of offending words, as the imminent failure of communication, as the staged claim of being offended, or as verbal and performative tool for electoral purposes. This dissertation analyzes a heterogeneous corpus of political, historiographic, journalistic, religious, legal, literary, proselytizing, pamphleteering, and digital primary sources. It spans the period from the Independence crisis at the beginning of nineteenth century to the digital architecture that enables online comment sections of mass media site in the twenty-first century. Each chapter reflects on one or two specialized language that, according to certain individuals or events, develop mechanisms to relegate the insult, and, from them, strategies and tactics are detailed in terms of its exploitation, containment, control, revitalization, overflow, and even involuntary stimulus.