Chairs
María Luisa Rodríguez Peñaranda mlrodriguezp@unal.edu.co
Valeria Castro Vargas vacastrov@unal.edu.co
Alix Vanessa Dielchy Niño Paz alinop@unal.edu.co;
Felipe Castillo Gallego fecastillog@unal.edu.co

SPEAKERS

Gladys Fabiola	Morales ramirez
Kevin	Hartmann
René Ibraham	Cardona Picón

In Latin America, the research and production of knowledge regarding constitutionalism has been influenced by a dogmatic approach that constructs and reproduces theories from the Global North, detached from the contextual information that accounts for the reality in which said theories are applied. Similarly, the aspirational constitutions that dominate the region pose formidable challenges regarding their implementation, fostering a chasm between text and reality. This demands the employment of new methodological and epistemological approaches that allow for an understanding of how constitutions function in practice and how they interact with social contexts marked by inequality, violence, and cultural diversity.

In response to the foregoing, empirical constitutionalism presents itself as a methodology that shifts attention from normative dogmatics towards the study of facts: it examines how rights are implemented, how judges respond, what obstacles citizens face when claiming them, and what social dynamics emerge around the constitutional text. Consequently, this panel proposes to analyse constitutionalism through concrete practices and experiences, combining available legal information, the political reality in which it is inserted, and the historical, cultural, and social particularities of each State.

This workshop invites all researchers interested in new techniques and/or tools for qualitative and quantitative research, their uses, and the dissemination of findings. It seeks to dynamise academic debate through the introduction of data and narratives proposed by the citizenry, the media, networks, judicial officials, and those other voices that are habitually ignored by constitutional dogmatics.