Finding ways of searching for the disappeared: the information practices of the families in Colombia
ISSN: 0022-0418
Article publication date: 3 March 2022
Issue publication date: 4 October 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore and identify the information-seeking process and practices of those searching for the forcefully disappeared in Colombia. It answers the questions; how do families in Colombia seek information about a disappearance, how is this seeking process mediated and how are information barriers dealt with?
Design/methodology/approach
Based on document analysis and interviews with families and NGO representatives, this bottom-up study explores the trajectory of the families' information-seeking process to highlight the most salient information practices.
Findings
A general trajectory of a search for information is laid out. The overwhelming barriers to information forces families to carry the burden of becoming information providers. NGOs provide situated learning on how to document a disappearance and deal with the state. This knowledge is passed on to families creating communities of practices. The information produced here becomes the main source of knowledge about this crime.
Originality/value
It makes a new contribution to the field of information practices by introducing the context of enforced disappearances using the example of Colombia, identifying a significant information-seeking process.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges Anneli Sundqvist and Jemima García-Godos for their feedback and support, the anonymous reviewers for their comments, the INFUSE research group at OsloMet, Ramón Alberch, Adriana Rudling, Marta Lucia Giraldo for her contacts, and the interviewees who cannot be named. In particular, the women who are bravely resisting against all odds are acknowledged.
Funding: The funding was provided by Oslo Metropolitan University.
Citation
Bermúdez Qvortrup, N. (2022), "Finding ways of searching for the disappeared: the information practices of the families in Colombia", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 78 No. 6, pp. 1371-1388. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-10-2021-0202
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited