Empatía

In this chapter, the affectation of Bogota’s upper middle class by the Colombian conflict is analyzed through the notion of empatía. As the affective connection to those constructed as other—be it the rural population or the ex-combatants—empatía speaks about the contours of fellow-feeling and discloses an aspirational logic behind the upper middle class’ identification with certain others. Empatía thus outlines an emotional habitus that allows my interlocutors to avoid feeling implicated in the dynamics of the conflict by distancing themselves from more affected others. The chapter closes with a methodological reflection on empathy as method and the challenges of revealing privilege in ethnographic research through dissent.