In the context of Colombia's armed conflict, reconciliation
emerges not only as a political project but also as a pedagogical challenge. This research
explores how school teachers in urban and rural areas of Antioquia - particularly in
Medellín, Santa Rosa de Osos, and Yarumal - understand, apply, and transform the notion of
reconciliation in their daily educational practice, especially in the implementation of the
Cátedra de Paz (Law 1732, MEN)
Based on qualitative fieldwork involving over 30 semi-structured interviews, the study
adopts a reconstructive approach to analyze how notions of reconciliation oscillate between
official peace discourses and the situation realities of classroom life. The teacher´s
narratives reveal that reconciliation is not seen as a final goal, but rather as a dynamic and
sometimes contradictory process shaped by personal experiences, institutional constraints,
and territorial context.
In rural schools, reconciliation is often connected with collective memory, activities with the community, beyond abstract, national strategies for peacebuilding.
Urban schools, by contrast, emphasize discourses around social justice and structural violence. These differing contexts highlight how teachers re-signify
reconciliation and adapt it to the concrete realities of their students' lives.
This research provides insights into the emergence of a "pedagogy of reconciliation" (Walsh,
2009) in post-conflict societies and demonstrates how educators can become active agents
in peacebuilding—not through top-down curriculum imposition, but through lived
educational practice.
This presentation will discuss central theoretical, methodological, and empirical findings
from my ongoing doctoral research in education at the JCRS - Jena Center for Reconciliation
Studies at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena.