El cielo a tiros by Jorge Franco, or the controversial celebration of the Alborada in Medellín.

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Portada de la Revista de Estudios Colombianos, número 65 (enero-junio de 2025). La imagen muestra una pintura en estilo acuarela de una escena festiva con bailarinas afrocolombianas vestidas de blanco, girando en medio de una danza tradicional. Al fondo, hay una arquitectura colonial de tonos azulados y personas observando la escena. En la parte superior de la portada aparece el título de la revista, el número del volumen, el período de publicación y el nombre de la organización editora: “Asociación de Colombianistas”. También se indica el ISSN 2474-6819 (Online).
PDF (Spanish)
Published: Aug 1, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53556/6jte2s37
Keywords:
Alborada, Medellín, Jorge Franco, Drug trafficking, Violence

Main Article Content

Françoise Bouvet
University of Rennes 2

Abstract

Every November 30 in Medellín, the Alborada feast celebrates the arrival of the last month of the year. In El cielo a tiros, published in 2018, Jorge Franco dismantles the apparent Frazerian ritual dimension of this Antioquian event, questioning the dubious origins, the legitimacy and cathartic dimension of a celebration that is rooted in pain rather than tradition, while offering a profound reflection on the eternal cycle of violence and the difficult reconstruction of a society marked by drug trafficking.

Article Details

Issue
Vol. 65 (2025): Colombia Celebrates
Section
Articles
Author Biography

Françoise Bouvet, University of Rennes 2

Françoise Bouvet has been teaching Spanish language and Latin American literature at the University of Rennes 2 (France) since 2006. Her research topics include the writing of violence in the contemporary Colombian novel (since 1990), the aesthetic representations of violence and drug trafficking in Colombia, women and violence in Latin America. Her doctoral thesis (awarded in 2023 by the Association of Colombianists), deals with the processes of “heroization” or “monstrification” of Pablo Escobar through his artistic representations in novels, songs and plastic arts.