Aparecer, desaparecer y reaparecer ante el estado como "campesinos"

The article contributes to understanding the re-emergence of the term peasant as a category of political action in Colombia by tracing its historical uses in policies directed at the rural population and in rural and agrarian mobilization processes since the 1920s. I argue that there are two roles played by this category that allow us to understand its contemporary resonance: to mediate between the state and broad sectors of the rural population and to participate in their unification and differentia-tion. The article shows several senses of the catego-ry peasant in Colombia as an effect of its historical role and its potential to evoke the memories of the heterogeneous struggle of the rural population in the countr y.