Presentation

A call to the intellectual as a collective subject

Paloma Marín Escobar

Forma de citar este artículo en APA:

Marín Escobar, P. (2026). A call to the intellectual as a collective subject [Presentation]. Revista Colombiana de Ciencias Sociales, 17(1), 12-15.https://doi.org/10.21501/22161201.5355

The intellectual is often imagined as a solitary wanderer—someone confined all day in a study, backed by a sturdy wooden library, an ashtray to the left, a cup of coffee to the right, and, in the distance, a window where the sunset appears and, at night, the cicadas sing. Indeed, when Plato, seeking to problematize the origin of intellectual ingenuity, the root of knowledge, and the enigma of wisdom, writes the myth of the cicadas in his Phaedrus, he seems to be thinking of a subject who must withdraw from the world to find inspiration in the hidden voice of nature. This subject forgets to attend to basic needs or daily concerns, for their soul is cast toward ideas, and their ultimate purpose is to compose the truest discourses—to encode, in the form of language, what the cicadas sing to them. This idea, which no doubt serves to explain the faculty that drives us to create knowledge, to name the things of the world with virtue, truth, and goodness, ought, however, to be expanded—beyond the individual who walks alone along the frontiers of reason—to consider the subject of knowledge as a being in community, as a collective subject.

There are many examples in the cultural history of Spanish America that should make us reflect on the intellectual of our time: generations of writers who militated within shared projects, through which they configured a subject of enunciation as a reflective and transformative agent of society, while allowing themselves to imagine a “we” capable of resisting the blows of time. We speak of subjects shaped by contexts of war, dictatorship, and economic oppression—recipients as well of colonial assumptions, scientific dogmatism, and monolithic discourses. These collectives named their places of enunciation with living voices, turning their geographies into loci of meaning and embodying multifaceted figures—teachers, writers, editors, critics, political activists—all at once, echoing that “we.” If we were to give full credit to any of these movements and collectives, we would be compelled to produce a monographic presentation. Yet, what is sought here is a reflection on the present: because today’s intellectual, driven by market and competitiveness logics and absorbed by the bureaucratic practices of institutions, has become a solipsist. The publications through which the contemporary intellectual updates their field and opens discussions often echo into silence, as each person tends to their own arms race for the word. In contrast, the journals of generational cultural projects that once responded to pivotal times of human, political, and emotional restoration were living bodies that engaged in dialogue with concrete reality, allowing themselves to become the spokespersons of the collective.

Our journal aims for its contributions not to become dead letters but, on the contrary, to enable dialogical exchange—an opening through the word of our spokespersons, the authors. We hope their research does not remain suspended in discourse but moves readers to reflect deeply on our time. Volume 17, issue 1, which we present here, brings together articles that serve as touchstones for this reflection, inviting and inciting debate within academic networks, interdisciplinary encounters, and the broadening of horizons in the social sciences—to think about our present and envision the future, to think a “we.” Four research articles, four review papers, two reflection pieces derived from research, and one theoretical paper compose this issue. Collectively, they offer a lucid perspective on human development, social phenomena, political activism, reflections on social well-being, psychosocial needs, violence, territory and sovereignty, organizational dimensions, and education.

The editorial note “Total peace, a quest for peace between bilateral and multilateral,” written by Fredy Alexander Chaverra Colorado, highlights the bold and innovative character of the Total Peace initiative compared with other peace dialogue proposals of the last two decades. According to the author, the Total Peace Law reactivated the strategy of negotiating with all actors—either through separate tables or a joint one—and identifies the advantages and disadvantages of negotiating with one or multiple armed groups. He notes that negotiating with a single actor seems to offer greater simplicity, agility, and effectiveness, while the multiplicity of actors tends to bring differences to the surface rather than consensus, complicating the achievement of agreements, especially when these actors are in conflict with one another.

The first research article, by Rogelio Flores Morales and Liliana Márquez García, is titled “Psychosocial needs of relatives of missing persons: experiences and testimonies of women leaders of mexican collectives..” The authors gather the perspectives of seven women leading collectives in four Mexican states with high levels of violence (State of Mexico, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Veracruz). Their findings highlight the urgency of strengthening comprehensive and multidisciplinary approaches to address these needs, ensuring safety and protection in search processes, and guaranteeing dignified treatment by institutions. They emphasize the importance of community participation and empathy in regenerating the social fabric and building peace.

The second article, “Conditions of human development in Wayuu child malnutrition,” by John Jairo García Peña and José Camilo Pimienta Arismendy, reveals a progressive conception of development among the Wayuu people and the influence of territorial context as a determining factor in child malnutrition. The study portrays malnutrition as a multidimensional problem reflecting the historical precariousness and social inequality endured by this community. The authors underscore the need to implement comprehensive proposals that foster community participation.

The third article, by Jonathan Andrés Hernández-Calle, Nora Palacio-Marín, Andrea Patricia Arbeláez, and Óscar Augusto Bedoya-Carvajal, titled “Construction of a well-being index for families in Envigado, Colombia” presents findings that associate well-being with the harmony of living and social protection, encompassing education, health, and social interactions. The quantitative analysis established a well-being model centered on health and social cohesion, revealing a high level of well-being. The authors conclude that the index contributes valuable insights for public policy in this Colombian municipality. Closing this section, the article “Beliefs, attitudes and practices related to saving water and electricity in households in the Valle de Aburrá” by Diana Patricia Mejía-Durango, Melissa Serna-Monterrosa, Gustavo Adolfo Córdoba-Castillo, Mateo González-Suárez, and Walter Alfredo Salas-Zapata, identifies two types of beliefs, three types of attitudes, and three types of practices. Its findings provide a foundation for developing an integrated scale to quantify behavioral dimensions of saving and consumption.

The review section opens with “Reading Durkheim with Galtung: suicide and structural violence,” by Ana María Hincapié Zuleta and Jaime Alberto Carmona Parra. The authors compile studies to enrich conceptual analysis and connect theory with manifestations of suicide. They observe that, despite statistical evidence, most suicide prevention manuals and guides focus on individual factors, neglecting crucial elements such as structural violence. The article engages a dialogue between Galtung and Durkheim to examine the four types of suicide in light of structural violence, highlighting how such violence becomes internalized and generates distinct forms of self-destruction. The following article, “Cyberloafing: a mapping of recent literature,” by Sergio Morales and Oswaldo Morales, identifies seven main thematic axes within recent studies on cyberlaziness. Unlike previous reviews, this paper delves into less explored topics and underscores the importance of studying this complex organizational phenomenon—particularly in an era increasingly defined by the ubiquity of the Internet, smartphones, and artificial intelligence.

The third review article, “Colombian sovereignty on the 82nd meridian. The role of the International Court of Justice in the territorial delimitation process between Colombia and Nicaragua,” by Juan Camilo Henao Cárdenas, Mónica Londoño Martínez, and Claudia Andrea Vasco del Río, is a qualitative documentary review based on a single-case methodology and an analysis of various authors’ positions regarding the Esguerra-Bárcenas Treaty. Their findings reveal a consensus among scholars that the Court failed to consider several principles of international law, including sovereignty, international relations, maritime law, the pacta sunt servanda principle, and territorial rights. In “Organizational attachment constrained by an instrumental business tradition: a review of the literatura,” Diana Milec Cifuentes-Leiton conducts a qualitative metanarrative literature review and finds that, in the past two decades, the concept of “bond” has regained relevance in research. However, its epistemological tradition remains dominated by organizational behavior, where knowledge of bonds primarily serves corporate profitability. Her study critiques this instrumental tradition from the perspectives of organizational and work psychology, warning about the commodification of human relations and proposing new research agendas to theorize social relationships in work experiences—without reification or instrumentalization.

Two papers comprise the section of reflection articles derived from research. The first, “Institutional trajectories of youths in the state protection system in Colombia,” by Ingrid Daniela Vargas Prado and David Stevens Ortegón Machado, analyzes the institutional lives of young people in residential care in Cali who lost parental custody. It reveals tensions between autonomy and institutional demands, as well as an unfamiliar external world, posing challenges for their citizenship as they grow under state protection. The study is based on interviews and document review. The second, “Civic education and ideologization in cuban elementary school,” by Roberto Garcés Marrero and Jeisil Aguilar Santos, applies critical discourse analysis to conclude that the Cuban curriculum—particularly in civic education—promotes a conservative and totalitarian worldview that limits individuals’ capacity for critical thinking. It emphasizes values such as love of the homeland, proletarian internationalism, and the socialist attitude toward work, thus restricting the questioning of power structures and shaping a constrained, fragmented individual.

The issue closes with a single theoretical article, “Educação e alegria: Affects in the Construction of a Possible Dialogue Between Spinoza and Snyders,” by Pedro Henrique Joaquim and Valmir Luis Saldanha da Silva. The authors recover Spinoza’s notion of affective dynamics, linking it to the relational dimension of educational processes, with a particular focus on emotional life in pedagogical settings. They seek to establish a dialogue between Spinozist thought and the philosophy of education centered on joy, as debated by Georges Snyders. Their conclusion stresses the need to reaffirm the aesthetic paradigm as a pedagogical vector—one that conceives affect, joy, and emotion as integral to sensitivity and as foundations for an emancipatory pedagogical praxis.

Finally, we express our gratitude to the authors, readers, reviewers, editors, translators, and the entire team that makes it possible for our journal to promote the construction, revitalization, and dissemination of knowledge as a collective effort in ongoing dialogue with the present.