VIOLENTOLOGY: A Manual of the Colombian Conflict

Photographs and text by Stephen Ferry
Essays by Gonzalo Sánchez and María Teresa Ronderos

VIOLENTOLOGY: A Manual of the Colombian Conflict documents Colombia’s continuing internal conflict, a complex and tragic war that is barely understood outside of the country.

The product of ten years of photographic documentation and investigation, this monograph investigates the political and historical dynamics of the conflict, and focuses on the terrible consequences of the war on Colombia’s civilian population. It debunks the common view of Colombia’s conflict as a “drug war,” and provides the tools necessary to understand the distinct actors involved in this multi-sided conflict.

The photography book reflects and honors the work of the Colombian journalists, investigators and historians who have documented the tragedy of the war in their country, often at great risk to their lives. Its title refers to the masterful school of Colombian historians and sociologists, known The Violentologists,  who have dedicated their careers to studying the dynamics of violence and civil war in their country. Dr. Gonzalo Sánchez, one of the foremost historians of the country’s violence, provides the introduction, while María Theresa Ronderos, an influential investigative journalist and editor of the newsweekly Semana,  contributes the afterword about the possibilities of peace in her country.

Composed of dramatic  photographic essays backed by extensive research, VIOLENTOLOGY is a unique contribution to the photographic record of war in our times, and provides a uniquely valuable resource for anyone interested in human rights, Latin American history, war and peace studies, and US foreign policy.

VIOLENTOLOGY measures 11″ tall by  17″ across, precisely the size of a traditional double page in the world’s newsmagazines, including Semana, the Colombian weekly that has led most of the investigations that inform this work. The paper is extra-heavy weight newspaper, and the volume is printed on the rotary press used by the legendary Bogotá daily, El Espectador, using a special process that bakes soy-based ink onto the page.

As an emphatically physical object, VIOLENTOLOGY is especially relevant at this point in the history of journalism,  appearing at the very moment when the printed press is being replaced by the web. The intention of this design is to arrest the reader’s attention—to engage his or her sense of touch as well as sight—in ways that journalistic web pages cannot. It is thus a reaction to the virtual world of today’s journalism,  a manifesto in favor of the printed press as vehicle for transmitting information and conveying emotion.

STEPHEN FERRY was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After graduating from Brown University, he joined the GAMMA-Liaison agency to cover social unrest, human rights, and the environment in dozens of countries. Based in Bogotà, he has dedicated himself over the last decade to the coverage of Colombia’s internal armed conflict. Ferry is the recipient of numerous prizes and honors including two World Photos Awards and has received fellowships from institutions such as the Alicia Patterson Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Fund for Investigative Journalism, and the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund. He teaches at the Fundación para un Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano in Colombia and works as a consultant to Colombian newspapers. Ferry also teaches at the International Center of Photography in New York. His previous book on the Quechua silver miners of Bolivia, I Am Rich Potosí: The Mountain That Eats Men, was published in 1999.

GONZALO SANCHEZ is a distinguished historian at the Institute of Political Studies and International Relations at the National University of Colombia in Bogotà, and the author of numerous works on Colombian violence including Guerra y Politica Colombiana. Sanchez spearheaded the presidential commission that wrote Colombia: Violencia y Democracia (1987). The Latin American Studies Association awarded him the Martin Diskin Lectureship for his outstanding scholarship and commitment to finding a peaceful solution to the country’s problems. He was a signatory to the famous “Letter of the Intellectuals” that called on the guerrillas to give up armed struggle in 1992.

MARIA TERESA RONDEROS serves as editorial advisor to the Revista Semana, is president of the Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP), and teaches at the Foundation for New Iberoamerican Journalism. The author of four books, she also serves on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Hardcover (Slipcase) / $50
17″ x 11″
144 pages / 100 Duotone images
ISBN 978-1-884167-39-3
Spring 2012

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