School for peace studies: gender and the indigenous community in post-conflict

This summer course is led by Rosario University’s Interdisciplinary Research Group on Peace, Conflict and Post-Conflict (JANUS). It offers the experience to work collectively with the Arhuaco indigenous people in an educational opportunity titled, “Summer Course on Peace-Building.” It will focus on the JANUS group’s field of interest, “Non-violent Action, Resistance and Social Movements,” and is offered in collaboration with the university’s Intercultural School for Indigenous Diplomacy (EIDI). This course seeks to explore how the processes of ethnic communities can be one of the mechanisms for achieving non-violent action in the current context of supporting and implementing the Peace Accords.

Examine peace studies from an intersectional perspective that addresses pedagogies for peace education, gender studies and indigenous studies in the context of post-conflict.

Students interested in community and intercultural education, peace studies, indigenous studies and gender studies. Students should be motivated to engage in informed discussions with members of the Arhuaco community.

The methodology for this course is based on several different pillars. Through “creative pairs”, the “informed discussion” held between indigenous and non-indigenous educators will form a symmetric relationship of intercultural acknowledgement and allow for the construction and exchange of broader and additional perspectives on the different topics to be addressed. “Reflection – participatory action” will also be a major focus of this educational process. As the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire always asserted, “Nobody educates anybody else. People educate each other.” With this philosophy in mind, this course seeks to serve as an opportunity for the exchange of knowledge through co-learning educational tools, that put an end to the hierarchical relationship between educators and learners. The focus on gender and indigenous mainstreaming will be a part of each learning opportunity with the understanding that democratic intercultural approaches require incorporating the perspectives and viewpoints of socially-excluded or marginalized populations. The course seeks to combine classroom learning activities with on-site learning and for experiences to be shared on of the self-government and sustainability of territories with a shared “cultural identity” through discussions with the taitas, elders and women of the community.