AGROECOLOGY AND PEACE IN SCHOOL: REFLECTIONS FROM RURALITY

Abstract

Building peace in Colombia involves adopting a critical stance towards the dynamics of violence that circulate within the practices and mentalities of those who inhabit the school. Therefore, it is imperative to promote skills that strengthen the exercise of citizenship, collective identity, and territorial defense for peace. The objective of this article is to present some empirical reflections that position the interrelation between agroecology and peace in the Colombian rural school context. Readers are invited to engage in discussions regarding its relevance and possible replicability in nearby educational and community settings. The experience takes place at the Peñas Departmental Rural Educational Institution in the municipality of Cucunubá, Cundinamarca, using action research as the method. The findings are classified into two groups: possibilities and challenges. Among the possibilities, it was evident that agroecology as a practice facilitates student articulation and leadership, progressively shaping a collective identity from which to territorialize. Thus, what is taught and learned allows for confronting global problems and the different forms of violence exercised in the school from a local perspective. Among the challenges, the erosion of peasant memory and the normalization of violence remain obstacles that hinder the transition from viewing the school as a space to a School Territory of Peace. It is concluded that the dialogue between peace, agroecology, and rurality represents an opportunity to undertake interdisciplinary, contextualized, and democratic pedagogical practices.