Ethical literacy as a way of being-with-others: a critical ethnography in the field of education for peace in Colombia

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the results of a critical ethnography of literacy practices experienced by a group of university students, who perceived them as promoting social exclusion in the Colombian educational system. It also gives an account of their views about how this educational system could be more inclusive and contribute to peacebuilding in the country. Inspired by Paulo Freire’s understanding of literacy and Hannah Arendt’s political theory, the meaning reconstructive analysis of 46 stories reveals a thematic universe composed of three main categories: understandings of social exclusion from schooling experiences, types of social exclusion as lived in schooling, and social exclusion-related factors of literacy practices. Based on two discussion groups, and an analysis in the light of the theory of practice architectures, it is argued and empirically substantiated that ethical literacy, as a way of being-with-others, is a practice that must be at the core of an education for peace.

KEYWORDS:

• Education for peace
• ethical literacy
• literacy practices
• practice theory
• storytelling
• politics

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the subjects I led and the theses I supervised in 2019, who accepted to participate in this study. I am also grateful for the participation of the Indigenous and Afro- descendant students, who belong to the Intercultural Network of Ancestral and Traditional Knowledge led by Gloria Inés Muñoz from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. The ‘Pedagogy, Education and Praxis (PEP)’ network was created in 2005 by a group of researchers from Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Colombia and the Caribbean interested in encouraging dialogues between different traditions of theory, research and practice in education.

2. This code refers to an excerpt taken from a story (Text) told by the undergraduate (U) student (ST) numbered as one (01) in the list of participants and the location of the excerpt in the corresponding written text (from line 141 to line 171).

3. This code refers to an excerpt taken from a story (Text) told by the graduate (G) student (ST) numbered as sixteen (16) in the list of participants and the location of the excerpt in the corresponding written text (from line 62 to line 104).

4. Though Colombia has Spanish as the official language, 65 Indigenous languages, two Creoles, the Colombian sign language, and the Rom language are spoken in the country with their corresponding dialects.

5. According to Carspecken (1996), a social site is a specific spatial and temporal region within society where people interact (187). It is usually characterised by routine activities.

6. In Colombia, the English term ‘literacy’ has been translated into Spanish as ‘alfabetización’ [adults’ reading and writing basic skills], ‘alfabetización académica’ [a psychopedagogical approach to reading and writing in higher education], ‘lectoescritura’ [a discursive approach to the intertwined reading and writing skills], ‘literacidad’ [the Spanish word based on the borrowed English word ‘literacy’ used by critical approaches to reading and writing] and ‘competencias comunicativas’ [communicative competencies].

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Universidad Nacional de Colombia under Grant 41758.