(Un)Stitching the Subjects of Colombia's Reconciliation Process
Lead Research Organisation:
Aberystwyth University
Department Name: International Politics
Abstract
This project explores the subjectivities constructed by ex-combatants in the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) in Colombia and how these ex-combatants are, in turn, perceived by other groups in society and specifically in the communities where they now settle. In order to study the transformation of both ex-combatants' self-understandings and outsider perceptions of these, the project employs a qualitative approach that combines narrative biographical interviews with textile narratives. This innovative method consists in the running of textile workshops during which first ex-combatants and then civilian community representatives, individually or collectively, create sewn wall-hangings to express their memories, self-understandings, and hopes for the future. In this approach, oral and textile narratives are not merely data to inform the analysis of ex-combatants' role in the process of reconciliation and social integration in Colombia, but, as a methodological intervention strategy, are intended to actively contribute to this process. A further key component of this methodological strategy are its diverse means for the dissemination of research results. Findings are disseminated not only through the textile workshops, but also through exhibitions at the local, national, and international level and through a digital platform. As a repository and dissemination tool, this platform is planned to be expanded to collect oral and textile narratives of the Colombian conflict produced in other sites in the future.
Planned Impact
The project aims to impact three different groups of social actors in the following ways:
1) Impact on the former combatants of FARC and ELN:
The project team will work with former combatants of armed groups who are in a DDR process in order not only to chart their multifaceted subjectivities, but also to spark and accompany their process of self-revaluation as civilian members of society. The research methods used - narrative biographical interviews and textile narratives - will enable participants to articulate their multiple stories that cross individual and collective experiences, thereby contributing to the process of resignification of ex-combatants' subjectivities as an important foundation for successful reintegration and societal reconciliation.
2) Impact on communities and municipal and regional level:
The ex-combatants' textile narratives will be shown in four exhibitions at local and regional levels in places identified as transitory reintegration zones with a history of significant guerrilla presence. The aim of these exhibitions is to spark debate among the recipient communities of ex-combatants in order to chart dominant narratives, unearth alternative ones and, ultimately, re-signify and incorporate alternative subjectivities into the local social dynamics in which former combatants now find themselves. Specifically, the project team will work with key civil society representatives of local and regional communities to enter into dialogue with the ex-combatants' narratives. These key actors can be expected to have a multiplying influence on learning processes and social dynamics in their localities, and making them partners in the textile narrative production in response to ex-combatants' textile narratives is therefore a key element in order to generate and expand the dialogues necessary for social reconciliation.
3) Impact on reconciliation at the national and international level:
A major challenge for reconciliation in a post-conflict context is to expand dialogue and understanding achieved among social actors who are in direct everyday interaction to those members of society who are less directly exposed to the DDR process. A third direct impact activity will therefore consist in the organisation of an integrated exhibition that combines, and creates a dialogue between, the textile narratives of persons in the process of DDR and those of local civil society representatives. Exhibited in at least one major urban centre in Colombia (e.g. Bogota), this integrated exhibition aims to foster greater awareness of the challenges and possibilities of the reconciliation process among audiences who are distant from the local settings of reintegration and whose imaginaries are mostly informed by media representations only.The expected impact is a change in attitudes towards both former combatants and rural civilian populations in former conflict zones, and demonstrate alternative ways of narrating the past and remembering collectively. An additional exhibition in the UK is expected to impact on visitors in the form of raising awareness of the intricacies of the Colombian peace process & promoting alternative narratives among UK citizens and Colombians and other Latin Americans living in the UK.
Finally, we will design, development and launch of a digital platform to connect researchers, academics, victims of the armed conflict, people involved in the DDR process, activists, human rights defenders and citizens interested in issues such as historical and cultural memory, armed conflict, mental health care, peace building and reconciliation throughout Colombia and internationally. With this digital strategy, the project seeks to facilitate communication between various sectors of Colombian society, encouraging the construction of affective solidarities to strengthen reconciliation processes.
1) Impact on the former combatants of FARC and ELN:
The project team will work with former combatants of armed groups who are in a DDR process in order not only to chart their multifaceted subjectivities, but also to spark and accompany their process of self-revaluation as civilian members of society. The research methods used - narrative biographical interviews and textile narratives - will enable participants to articulate their multiple stories that cross individual and collective experiences, thereby contributing to the process of resignification of ex-combatants' subjectivities as an important foundation for successful reintegration and societal reconciliation.
2) Impact on communities and municipal and regional level:
The ex-combatants' textile narratives will be shown in four exhibitions at local and regional levels in places identified as transitory reintegration zones with a history of significant guerrilla presence. The aim of these exhibitions is to spark debate among the recipient communities of ex-combatants in order to chart dominant narratives, unearth alternative ones and, ultimately, re-signify and incorporate alternative subjectivities into the local social dynamics in which former combatants now find themselves. Specifically, the project team will work with key civil society representatives of local and regional communities to enter into dialogue with the ex-combatants' narratives. These key actors can be expected to have a multiplying influence on learning processes and social dynamics in their localities, and making them partners in the textile narrative production in response to ex-combatants' textile narratives is therefore a key element in order to generate and expand the dialogues necessary for social reconciliation.
3) Impact on reconciliation at the national and international level:
A major challenge for reconciliation in a post-conflict context is to expand dialogue and understanding achieved among social actors who are in direct everyday interaction to those members of society who are less directly exposed to the DDR process. A third direct impact activity will therefore consist in the organisation of an integrated exhibition that combines, and creates a dialogue between, the textile narratives of persons in the process of DDR and those of local civil society representatives. Exhibited in at least one major urban centre in Colombia (e.g. Bogota), this integrated exhibition aims to foster greater awareness of the challenges and possibilities of the reconciliation process among audiences who are distant from the local settings of reintegration and whose imaginaries are mostly informed by media representations only.The expected impact is a change in attitudes towards both former combatants and rural civilian populations in former conflict zones, and demonstrate alternative ways of narrating the past and remembering collectively. An additional exhibition in the UK is expected to impact on visitors in the form of raising awareness of the intricacies of the Colombian peace process & promoting alternative narratives among UK citizens and Colombians and other Latin Americans living in the UK.
Finally, we will design, development and launch of a digital platform to connect researchers, academics, victims of the armed conflict, people involved in the DDR process, activists, human rights defenders and citizens interested in issues such as historical and cultural memory, armed conflict, mental health care, peace building and reconciliation throughout Colombia and internationally. With this digital strategy, the project seeks to facilitate communication between various sectors of Colombian society, encouraging the construction of affective solidarities to strengthen reconciliation processes.
Organisations
Publications
Andrä C
(2019)
Konflikttextilien: Analytischer, ästhetischer und politischer Stoff für Friedensforschung und -arbeit
in Wissenschaft und Frieden
Andrä C
(2020)
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies
Andrä C
(2022)
Crafting Stories, Making Peace? Creative Methods in Peace Research
in Millennium: Journal of International Studies
Arias López B
(2021)
Reflexivity in research teams through narrative practice and textile-making
in Qualitative Research
Arias López B
(2020)
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies
Arias-López B
(2022)
De combatientes a vecinos: hacer una vida después de los acuerdos de paz en Colombia. Un relato etnográfico sobre San José de León
in Hallazgos
Arias-López B
(2022)
Reconciliación y salud mental colectiva. La reincorporación de los excombatientes de las FARC-EP en Colombia, 2020
in Revista El Ágora USB
Bliesemann De Guevara B
(2019)
Alltag, Erinnerung, Kunst, Aktion: Rück Blick Nach Vorne
Bliesemann De Guevara B
(2020)
Fieldwork as Failure: Living and Knowing in the Field of International Relations
Bliesemann De Guevara B
(2022)
Doing memory with needle and thread: narrating transformations of violent conflict
in Contemporary Voices: St Andrews Journal of International Relations
Coral Velázquez L
(2021)
Tejiendo la paz, junto a los niños de San José de León, Mutatá, Antioquia, Colombia. 2019-2020
in Trama
De Guevara B
(2023)
Contemporary Reflections on Critical Terrorism Studies
López B
(2022)
Textiles para la paz en el posacuerdo en Colombia
in Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture
| Title | "(Des)tejiendo miradas", San José de Leon, Mutatá, Colombia, 30 September - 5 October |
| Description | The exhibition "(Des)tejiendo miradas" showcased biographies of former members of the demobilised Colombian guerrilla group FARC and their new rural neighbours, through multi-layered stories rendered in words and threads. Textile books produced in collective embroidery workshops in rural communities in the regions of Mutatá and Dabeiba as well a in the city of Medellín spoke of shared experiences of the (post-)conflict: of the yearning for home, reunions with family members, and the importance of one's roots, of trust, commitments, and transformations, of children's experiences of the conflict, and of hopes and uncertainties. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | The textile narratives were first publicly exhibited in a local exhibition in the village of San José de León village, one of the major fieldwork locations of this project. It had approximately 200 visitors, among them villagers, people from neighbouring communities, school classes, and representatives of national and international organisations. The exhibition of textile narratives showed the potential to encourage reflection, understanding and even solidarity among its visitors, as expressed in interviews. |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdORWGESHHI |
| Title | "(Des)tejiendo miradas", University of Antioquia, Apartadó campus, Colombia, 7-11 October |
| Description | The exhibition "(Des)tejiendo mirada" showcased biographies of former members of the demobilised Colombian guerrilla group FARC and their new rural neighbours, through multi-layered stories rendered in words and threads. Textile books produced in collective embroidery workshops in rural communities in the regions of Mutatá and Dabeiba as well a in the city of Medellín spoke of shared experiences of the (post-)conflict: of the yearning for home, reunions with family members, and the importance of one's roots, of trust, commitments, and transformations, of children's experiences of the conflict, and of hopes and uncertainties. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | After a first exhibition in one of the fieldwork sites, the textile narratives were publicly exhibited in a local exhibition in the Apartadó campus of the University of Antioquia. It had approximately 150 visitors, among them students, academics, people from local communities in the Apartadó region, and representatives of national and international organisations. The exhibition of the textile narratives showed the potential to encourage reflection, understanding and even solidarity among its visitors, as expressed in interviews and textile pieces made in reaction to the exhibition. |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdORWGESHHI |
| Title | "Puntadas", Parque Educativo, Dabeiba, Antioquia, Colombia, 18-28 November |
| Description | In this exhibition, our project exhibited textile books composed of pieces made by children and some of their parents in the villages of San José de Leon (Mutatá) and Llano Grande (Dabeiba). Some of them are the children of former FARC combatants, others the children of members of the rural communities. Among the children's textile stories, there is a common narrative thread. showing little difference between the children of former FARC fighters and of community members, their stories speak of optimism and welcome, love and idyllic landscapes, in short: of their community as a space in which they live jointly. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | This exhibition had approximately 100 visitors, among them the children, parents and teachers from Llano Grande who had made the exhibited textiles and who were invited for a specially programmed viewing of the exhibition. The exhibition of textile narratives showed the potential to encourage reflection, understanding and even solidarity among its visitors, as expressed in personal conversations. |
| Title | "Reminiscencias - Puntadas", CreaLab, University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia, 6-20 November |
| Description | A joint exhibition in which the textile narratives created in the framework of this project were brought into conversation with photographies by Christine Delory-Momberger (France) and Gabriel Vieira Posada (Colombia). In this exhibition, our project exhibited textile books composed of pieces made by children and some of their parents in the villages of San José de Leon (Mutatá) and Llano Grande (Dabeiba), some of them children of former FARC combatants, others of members of the rural communities. Among the children's textile stories, there is a common narrative thread. showing little difference between the children of former FARC fighters and of community members, their stories speak of optimism and welcome, love and idyllic landscapes, in short: of their community as a space in which they live jointly. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | This exhibition had approximately 200 visitors, among them participants of a conference for school teachers in the Department of Antioquia. The exhibition of textile narratives showed the potential to encourage reflection, understanding and even solidarity among its visitors, as expressed in entries into the visitor book laid out in the exhibition. |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/crealab.udea/photos/a.1000668566644143/2748043785239937/?type=3&theater |
| Title | (Des)tejiendo miradas: Relatos y correlatos textiles sobre reconciliación en Colombia |
| Description | This project exhibition took place in the gallery space of the Casa de la Cultura Confiar, Medellin, Colombia, from 7 May to 1 December 2022. The exhibition showed preferred stories and emerging narratives embroidered by FARC peace signatories, their families and new neighbours, collected in 90 textile pieces gathered in a series of 11 textile books: Journeys, Longing, Re-encounters, Roots, Confidence, Transformations, Commitments, Small Stitches, Hopes, Uncertainties, and Weaving of Resonances. These textiles were exhibited together with textile resonances, i.e. responses to the stories of the peace signatories, by people from the community of the Apartadó and Medellín, as well as resonances in audiovisual format from the perspective of people in Spain, Chile and the United Kingdom. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | The exhibition was visited by around 500 people, especially members of civil society organisations such as women's groups, youth groups, and human rights defenders, but also the general public. Visitors said that the exhibition brought the rural and urban worlds closer together, finding common ground for understanding the conflict in Colombia. |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmsvdFUbQn4&ab_channel=ConfiarCooperativaFinanciera |
| Title | Documentary "Del Corazón a la Mano" [From the Heart to the Hand] |
| Description | Colombian project PI Beatriz Arias and team member Laura Coral represented the project in the documentary "Del Corazón a la Mano: Resistencia textil en Colombia" [From the heart to the hand: Textile resistance in Colombia] by Elisabeth Guillén and Indira Vega. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | No impact yet. |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/792521507 |
| Title | Textile books (Des)tejiendo miradas |
| Description | As part of this research project, c.150 individual and collective textile artworks have been produced by demobilised combatants of the Colombian guerrilla group FARC, their relatives and neighbours, and other groups and communities in Colombia, among them shantytown residents in Medellin and visitors of the project exhibitions. Textile books produced in collective embroidery workshops in rural communities in the regions of Mutatá and Dabeiba as well as in the city of Medellín spoke of shared experiences of the (post-) conflict: of the yearning for home, reunions with family members, and the importance of one's roots, of trust, commitments, and transformations, of children's experiences of the conflict, and of hopes and uncertainties. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | The pieces were shown in four physical exhibitions in Colombia in 2019 (in San José de Leon (Mutatá), Apartadó, Medellin and Dabeiba) visited by c.600 persons and a virtual international exhibition in 2021 visited by over 1,000 individuals from at least 47 countries. These exhibitions demonstrated the potential of textile artwork to encourage reflection, understanding and even solidarity among its visitors, as expressed in interviews, textile responses to the exhibitions and entries into a visitors' book. |
| URL | https://des-tejiendomiradas.com/en/inicio-english/ |
| Title | Virtual international exhibition '(Un-)Stitching Gazes | (Des)Tejiendo Miradas', 15 January - 1 March |
| Description | The virtual international exhibition '(Un-)Stitching Gazes | (Des)Tejiendo Miradas', a collaboration between and the research project "(Un-)Stitching the Subjects of Colombia's Reconciliation Process" and the Conflict Textiles collection (Northern Ireland), took place from 15 January to 1 March 2021. It brought the textiles sewn and embroidered by Colombian peace signatories/ex-combatants, their families and new rural neighbours, made in course of our project, into conversation with twelve arpilleras and other Conflict Textiles pieces from Chile, England, Mexico, Northern Ireland, and Peru, to reflect on common complexities and challenges of processes of conflict transformation, peace building and reconciliation in different parts of the world. The virtual exhibition was accompanied by experts-in-residence who reflected on the exhibition themes (Nostalgia, Roots, Transformations, Trust etc) and organised events which accompanied the exhibition and solicited resonances among different audiences - from children and their adults, to academics and textile artists, and to exiled Colombians. These reflections and resonances were successively added to the virtual exhibition and form an integral part of the display. The exhibition was displayed on Instagram (@des_tejiendo) and stitchedvoices.wordpress.com, where it will remain accessible beyond its official end. For a record of the exhibition on the Conflict Textiles website, see https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/conflicttextiles/search-quilts2/fullevent1/?id=214. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | During the six weeks of its activities, the virtual exhibition '(Un-)Stitching Gazes | (Des)Tejiendo Miradas' attracted 374 followers on Instagram and a further total of 938 visits on the parallel exhibitions website. Through its virtual display, the exhibition (originally planned as a four-week physical exhibition in the UK, Germany and Spain) reached audiences in 47 countries via its website alone, with the top ten countries including the UK, Germany, the US, Colombia, Mexico, Australia, the Philippines, Greece, Spain and France. The film contributed to this virtual exhibition by Conflict Textiles was watched 296 times (English version) and 279 times (Spanish version) on YouTube, respectively. The activities organised by the project team in collaboration with eight artists- and researchers-in-residence attracted further audiences to actively engage with the exhibition and have led to new connections for future impact work. |
| URL | https://stitchedvoices.wordpress.com/unstitching-gazes-virtual-exhibition-destejiendo-miradas-exposi... |
| Description | The project "(Un)Stitching the Subjects of Colombia´s Reconciliation Process" was developed in two rural locations - the villages San José de León in Mutatá and Llano Grande in Dabeiba -, making use of an approach that combines the methods of biographical interviews, ethnographic observations, and textile narratives/resonances under the overarching narrative practices approach. Ex-combatants of the guerrilla group FARC, their families and members of neighbouring communities participated in this research process, which explored hegemonic, alternative, silent/silenced and preferred subjectivities from the point of view of these actors' different perspectives. Themes that arose from this research relate to family, emotion and affect, the construction of places and territories, and to an emerging sense of what peacebuilding and reconciliation means for people in Colombia's conflict-ridden rural areas. The fieldwork has also allowed the project team to identify the relationships that were being woven between the ex-combatants, their families and the neighbouring communities and the wider region and which suggest a number of difficulties that FARC ex-combatants face when trying to incorporate the logics of civilian life into the different areas of their daily lives. This fieldwork has been complemented with a small workshop series with a host community of peace signatories/ex-combatants in Anorí, northeast Antioquia, and a Colombia-based postgraduate student's work with the women´s organization Convivamos in Medellin, which studied urban representations and stories that complexify and problematize the possibility of reconciliation. |
| Exploitation Route | Crucially, the research process has involved the production of textile pieces that account for the diverse preferred narratives of self and others of our research participants. The pieces have guided the design of a virtual platform for pedagogical purposes, which is part of the project's social impact strategy (see https://des-tejiendomiradas.com/en/inicio-english/). The textile narratives were also put on public display in four local exhibitions - the village San José de León, the municipality of Apartadó, the municipality of Dabeiba, and the city of Medellin - as well as a virtual international exhibition (on Instagram and WordPress). The exhibitions were accompanied by an interactive textile strategy (textile resonances) to capture the reactions and thoughts of visitors and invited experts-in-residence. The research team has furthermore developed internal teamwork dynamics that also resort to the project methodologies of narratives practice and textile narratives and resonances, generating interesting processes of reflexivity in the different project phases of fieldwork preparation, data generation/textile production, data analysis and outputs. The new methodology developed by the project can be used by other academics, civil society groups, schools etc. to continue to work on peace, dialogue and reconciliation in Colombia and beyond. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://des-tejiendomiradas.com/en/inicio-english/ |
| Description | The project methodology involves exhibitions of textile artworks and narratives created by former combatants, their relatives and new neighbours living in regions of east Antioquia, Colombia, and resonances by visitors of these exhibitions at local, regional, national and international levels. It is a practical form of bringing different, partly antagonistic groups in Colombian society into dialogue through artistic expressions. This methodology has resulted in changes of attitude among many of the exhibitions' visitors, who have nuanced or changed their negative views of former combatants, or have found hope regarding the possibility of peace in their country. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | (Des)tejiendo miradas: herramientas para una pedagogía de la paz y el diálogo social en Colombia (extension) |
| Amount | £12,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2022 |
| End | 06/2023 |
| Description | CIDRA-GCRF Agility Grant "Unstitching Gazes, Stitching Peace in Colombia: Expanding the impact of former FARC combatants' textile narratives" |
| Amount | £2,980 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Aberystwyth University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 07/2020 |
| Description | CIDRA-GCRF Emergency Response Grant "Food sovereignty in times of Covid-19" |
| Amount | £14,680 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Aberystwyth University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2020 |
| End | 06/2021 |
| Description | CIDRA-GCRF Seed Grant "Practices of care and empowerment of peasant women in rural areas of the department of Antioquia" |
| Amount | £19,650 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Aberystwyth University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2019 |
| End | 06/2021 |
| Description | Creating Safer Space: Strengthening Civilian Protection Amidst Violent Conflict |
| Amount | £1,872,227 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AH/T008024/1 |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2020 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Description | GCRF Development Award Creating Safer Space - Building Networks and Knowledge Bases for Civilian Protection |
| Amount | £141,218 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AH/T005394/1 |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2019 |
| End | 06/2021 |
| Title | Reflexivity through narrative practice and textile narratives |
| Description | Our project developed narrative practice and textile narratives as two techniques of researcher reflexivity in diverse teams conducting qualitative-interpretive research. Specifically, we adapted definitional ceremonies-a collective structured method of storytelling and group resonances-as useful tool to interweave diverse researchers as a team, while maintaining the plurivocity that enables deeper reflexivity. Additionally, strategies of textile-making were introduced as material and embodied ways of knowing and expressions, which can complement team reflexivity through narrative practice where words fail or are refused. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | By acknowledging the wider power/knowledge structures implicating research participants and researchers, reflexivity through narrative practice works against the tendency of situating 'by prior announcement' and through 'identity badges' (Patai). Rather, with its focus on dominant and alternative narratives, universal and subjugated knowledges, reflexivity through narrative practice foregrounds structural inequalities underpinning researchers' identities and situatedness. Additionally, the acknowledgement of the indeterminacy of (self-)narratives, and of the co-existence of dominant and alternative stories which open the possibility of re-authoring individual and group identities, makes narrative practice a useful tool to reflect, throughout the research process, how the latter influences and changes researchers' subjectivities. Sharing experiences through the creative processes of narrative practices and textile narratives has helped our team to address challenges like team members' emotional-political commitments and close familiarity with the research topic which can act as a barrier to understanding and are based on epistemic privilege. Our reflexive practices have allowed us to better understand the power relations, tensions and asymmetries that intersect both the research process and us researchers. Recognising and continuously sharing the plurivocity of our team has also kept us mutually alert about analytical speculations and anticipations. |
| URL | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14687941211028799 |
| Title | Textile narrative method |
| Description | Textile narrative denominates a newly developed method which uses textile-making in the context of a narrative practices (or narrative therapy) approach to elicit participants' preferred narratives (in the case of these research: the stories which research participants wanted other Colombians to know). The novelty of textile narratives as a research method arises in the context of this wider qualitative-interpretive methodology of narrative practices (White and Epston 1990; White 2007). This originally psychotherapeutic approach understands individuals' subjectivities as composed of stories: persons make sense of their lives and the world around them by putting some of their experiences into a particular temporal and causal order to create and perform meaning. Since subjectivities are multistoried, people have the possibility to re-author their lives, for example, when adapting to changed circumstances. At the same time, the narrative practice approach also acknowledges that people's (self-)narratives are embedded in wider sociocultural discourses, which limit the repertoires of meanings and performances that are socially acceptable and which often preclude or silence alternative narratives. The project employed biographical interviews to determine dominant and alternative narratives of its different types of participant-subjects (former combatants, their relatives, and their new peasant neighbours), ethnographic observation to explore silent/silenced narratives, and textile-making to elicit participants' preferred narratives (i.e., stories they wanted other Colombians to know) and to create resonances between the textile artworks and wider Colombian society through exhibitions and workshops (see Textile Resonances). The novel Textile Narratives method adds a useful, non-linguistic tool to studies using a narrative practice approach and can be adapted to serve other qualitative-interpretive research designs. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The uptake and refinement of the method by our team's follow-on projects with groups of young people in the cities of Bogota, Cali, Medellin and Popayan resulted in improved social dialogue about the Colombian peace process, past armed conflict and current structural violences. |
| URL | https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-11795-5_147-1 |
| Title | Textile resonances method |
| Description | The project developed a novel method denominated Textile Resonances to contribute to social dialogue in the Colombian peace process. By exhibiting the textiles created by participants, the project aimed to enable dialogue between different parts of Colombian society and thereby to contribute positively to the fragile peace and reconciliation process. Exhibition visitors and workshop participants were invited to reflect in embroidered and verbal forms what the exhibition had inspired them to un-stitch and/or re-stitch, e.g., with regard to ex-combatants or the Colombian peace process. This process of textile resonances took inspiration from narrative practices techniques such as problem externalization and definitional ceremonies, and developed them to include textile-making as non-linguistic way of knowing and expression. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The novel Textile Resonances method not only resulted in new textiles which have formed part of future exhibitions and generated additional data about the state of post-conflict reconciliation and peacebuilding in Colombia; it also contributed to transformations in collective meaning-making about the violent conflict in Colombia. The method was adopted by the research team in follow-on projects with young people in Bogota, Cali, Medellin and Popayan, and contributed to improved possibilities for political expression by these young people and to public dialogue about Colombia's present peace process, structural violences and hopes for a better future. |
| URL | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03058298211063510 |
| Description | "A Heart Like Everyone Else": (Un-)stitching Colombian Ex-guerrillas' Experiences of War and Peace, IFSH Hamburg, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | UK-based project Co-PI Bliesemann de Guevara presented on the arts-based project methodology to colleagues and post-doctoral researchers at the Institut für Friedensforschung und Sicherheitspolitik Hamburg, Germany, followed by a lively debate about participatory and arts-based research, |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | "A Heart Like Everyone Else": (Un-)stitching Colombian Ex-guerrillas' Experiences of War and Peace, IPRS, Aberystwyth University, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | On 7 October 2020, UK-based project Co-I Bliesemann de Guevara and project post-doctoral researcher Andrä presented the methodology and preliminary findings of the project at the International Politics Research Seminar (IPRS) at Aberystwyth University. The presentation sparked a lively debate among the c.35 attending PG students and colleagues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | "Destejiendo miradas", Editorial Tragaluz, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | "(Un)Stitching Gazes" was an online conversation between Co-PI Beatriz Elena Arias and Max Yuri Gil (Colombian Truth Commission), moderated by Alejandro López Carmona. The conversation focused on the work of the truth commission and the narratives of FARC peace signatories explored by our project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV4Tp5zSDjI&ab_channel=CasaTragaluz |
| Description | "Destejiendo miradas: hilar, bordar y remendar la reconciliación en Colombia", Casa de Fe y Cultura, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This roundtable discussion between project Co-PI Beatriz Elena Arias y Javier Jaramillo Alzate, moderated by Mauricio Zapata, was broadcast on Facebook Live. It addressed the project exhibition and its wider meaning for the peace process in Colombia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=839412676985824 |
| Description | "Expanding knowing in international politics: creative and embodied methodologies", Centre for the International Politics of Knowledge, Aberystwyth, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On the occasion of the virtual textile exhibition "(Un-)Stitching Gazes", the KNOWLEDGE Centre at Aberystwyth University hosted a roundtable discussion and creative workshop to approach knowledge production from creative and/or embodied methodologies. Participants were invited to reflect on how ways of knowing their research topics may expand classic social-scientific methods, what can or cannot be known, and what knowing differently means for the understanding of international politics. This sparked creative making and lively exchange among participants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | "Experiencia del proyecto Destejiendo miradas", course "Pedagogías y políticas de la reconciliación. Limites y posibilidades de un concepto en debate", Universidad de los Andes - Instituto CAPAZ, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation by Beatriz Elena Arias reflecting on debates regarding post-conflict reconciliation from the point of view of practices and theories that emerged from this project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | "From propositional to experiential knowledge (and back): textile-making as interpretivist research method", University of Coimbra, Portugal |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | UK-based project PI Bliesemann de Guevara disseminated the textile narrative and textile resonances methods developed by this project to a group of PhD students in the social sciences at Coimbra University, Portugal. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | "Huella y saberes: Narrativas textiles", organised by Comfama |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In this event held at the Auditorio Centro Cultural Comfama Aranjuez, Project Co-PI Beatriz Arias and project collaborator Camila Londoño Román talk about how needlework has been employed by the project as a powerful and useful tool to revive the stories of Colombian communities and help find routes to reconciliation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | "Huellas y saberes: Tejido y memoria", organised by Comfama, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In this online conversation organised by Comfama and broadcast on Facebook Live, project team members present and discuss the methodological toolbox of our project. The filming was partly done in the exhibition rooms of the Casa Confiar, where the project exhibition was shown at the time. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://fb.watch/bFQWcA2izO/ |
| Description | "La Narrativa Textil como herramienta en la construcción de Memoria Histórica y testimonio de la protesta social en Colombia", Fundación de Diseño, Cali, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Conversation between project Co-PI Beatriz Arias, José Alberto Tejada Echeverri, and moderator Raúl Quinayas about how to understand how, through a piece of cloth, a fabric or an article of clothing, stories can be told, as well as to record the events experienced by Colombians in the framework of the National Strike. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2KaahfEshE&ab_channel=FADPCali |
| Description | (Des) Tejiendo Miradas | (Un-) Stitching Gazes |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The project developed the bilingual digital platform "(Des) Tejiendo Miradas | (Un-)Stitching Gazes" to promote the narrative and textile pedagogical methods developed in the project to multipliers in Colombia and beyond. The platform makes displays the textile, written and other project outputs and guides visitors to supporting materials that will help them to employ textile-making in their own engagements with communities and peace work, with the aim to foster to enable dialogue around past violent conflict and current peace and reconciliation processes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Blog entries, Stitched Voices blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The blog entry "Biographical narratives and textile art: a research example from the Colombian peace process", published in English, Spanish and German on the Stitched Voices blog, attracted over 520 views, most of them (over 400) from Spanish-speaking audiences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://stitchedvoices.wordpress.com/2019/08/15/biographical-narratives-and-textile-art-colombia/ |
| Description | Book launch "(Un-) Stitching Gazes: Spinning, embroidering, and mending reconciliation in Colombia", Aberystwyth University, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On 2 December 2020, the UK-based project team in collaboration with the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, launched the project's illustrated book "(un-) Stitching Gazes | (Des) Tejiendo Miradas" in a virtual event on MS Teams. The event was attended by some 40 persons form the UK and other countries and led to some follow-up request for information and collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Children Embroidering Peace, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As researchers-in-residence of our virtual exhibition "(Un-) Stitching Gazes | (Des) Tejiendo Miradas", Giuditta Fontana and Raquel da Silva organised a workshop for 4-8yo children and their grown-ups to creatively reflect on what peace means for us and produce colleagues to express these ideas. The online event was attended by 10 children and their parents and grandparents and resulted in colourful creative reflections of peace made by the children, which will be taken back to the Colombian children in our research field sites. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Conflict Textiles contribution to (Un)Stitching Gazes, film and discussion, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Conflict Textiles curator Roberta Bacic organised a closed session for invited participants from universities and cultural institutions in Northern Ireland as well as individuals accompanying the peace and reconciliation process in Colombia in different roles, to discuss the Conflict Textiles collections film contribution to our project exhibition "(Un-) Stitching Gazes | (Des) Tejiendo Miradas". The discussion revolved around the value of artistic methods of memory-making and societal engagement in (post-) conflict societies, and sparked interesting questions and ideas for follow-up events. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Embroidery Workshop Memory and Peace, Imagine Colombia Festival, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In the context of the 2022 Imagine Colombia festival in London, this workshop offered by Jimena Pardo used embroideries made in this project, among other textile experiences from Latin America, to prompt dialogue around peace, hope, and memory through stitching The outcomes reflected shared narratives around the current reconciliation and peace process in Colombia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://imaginecolombiafestival.org/saturday/ |
| Description | En busca de natsukashii, bordar la nostalgia feliz. Arqueología sentimental del bordado, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In her role as artist-in-residence of our virtual exhibition "(Des) Tejiendo Miradas | (Un-) Stitching Gazes, textile artist Mercedes Rojas organised this online textile-making event that resonated with the exhibition theme Nostalgias. C.20 participants were guided through a process of happy nostalgias about textile objects and textile makers in their childhood and their meaning for life today. The session was accompanied by the participants lively remembrance and storytelling and resulted in stitched resonances which were fed back into the virtual exhibition. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Experience exchange, Convivamos, Medellin, Colombia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | We presented our project at the Medellin-based women's organisation Convivamos, as part of an exchange of experiences of a number of projects. The workshop was attended by around 200 persons members of Woman's and Peasant NGOs from different parts of Colombia. Most interestingly, we were able to generate dialogue between the textiles made by former combatants and victims of the violent conflict who attended the event, which led to changes in attitude towards greater understanding. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Faculty of Nursing, University of Antioquia, Medellin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Over 50 educators in higher education and postgraduate researchers took part in this presentation and textile workshop about our project, which resulted in a lively debate about the role of the profession of nursing in the Colombian peace process and caused a number of participants to change their attitudes towards this process, adopting a more positive outlook, as evidenced through subsequent interviews with some participants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Hilaku Mutaciones: Cuarto encuentro de arte textil, Colectivo Mottainai, Zaragoza, Spain, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Colombian Co-PI Beatriz Arias López held online dissemination activities and workshops with attendees at the Harinera Community Centre in Zaragoza and students from the University of Zaragoza. She presented the results of the research and introduced the project's pedagogical strategies around textile narrative to generate participatory community processes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://mottainaizgz.blogspot.com/2020/10/programacion-hilaku-mutaciones-iv.html |
| Description | Historia del tejido como ejercicio testimonial y narrativa de resistencia, Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación Bogotá, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Colombian Co-PI Beatriz Arias López presented the project at an online meeting in which 250 participants, in which experiences from Colombia and other places around textile narratives for the construction of plural memories were shared. Particularly, she presented the research results on the importance of ex-combatants' memories and their relationship for the construction of collective mental health. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Instagram account @des_tejiendo |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The project's Instagram account @des_tejiendo was created in January 2021 to host and promote the project's virtual exhibition "(Un-) Stitching Gazes | (Des) Tejiendo Miradas". It has 370 followers across different countries to date, and has been kept live after the end of the exhibition to inform about and disseminate further project activities and outputs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.instagram.com/des_tejiendo/ |
| Description | Interview for German museum blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | An interview (in German) about the project was published on the blog of the Women's Museum Fuerth, Germany, and sparked wider interest about the projects and a number of requests for further information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.frauenindereinenwelt.de/blog_deutsch/2019_blog_DE/2019_Im_Gespräch_mit/2019_Studierende/... |
| Description | Invited conference contribution, St Andrews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Project Co-PI Bliesemann de Guevara's presentation "Knowing Through Needlework: Conflict textiles and the study of war in international politics", was held as part of the "Threads, War and Conflict" Conference at The Byre Theatre, St Andrews, UK, and was attended by c.50 colleagues, postgraduate researchers and textile practitioners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/conflicttextiles/mediafiles/1293_Threads-Conference-Programme-240419.pdf |
| Description | Invited talk, University of St Andrews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The presentation "Knowing Through Needlework: Conflict textiles and the study of war in international politics", given by project Co-PI Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, as part of the St Andrews Lecture series at the University of St Andrews, UK, was attended by c.10 colleagues and postgraduate researchers and sparked a lively debate about the research with former combatants through textile means. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://events.st-andrews.ac.uk/events/ir-school-seminar-knowing-through-needlework-conflict-textile... |
| Description | La reincorporación de los y las firmantes de la paz, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project team organised an online roundtable discussion with FARC peace signatories and members of civil society organisations in Colombia who discussed the possibilities for ex-combatants' reincorporation into civilian society. Co-I Berena Torres spoke on behalf of the project. The event was supported by the University of Antioquia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j5a4NoBlsM&t=5s&ab_channel=destejiendo |
| Description | Lanzamiento del libro "(Des)tejiendo miradas: hilar, bordar y remendar la reconciliación en Colombia", Medellin, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In November 2020, the Colombian project team members together with the publisher Periferia Editorial and the School of Nursing at the University of Antioquia, organised the Spanish-medium launch of the project's illustrated book "(Des) Tejiendo Miradas | (Un-) Stitching Gazes" on Zoom. The online event was attended by over 200 persons from Colombia and other countries and led to new contacts and interactions with potential users/beneficiaries of the project and its textile methodologies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation at international symposium, Women's Museum Fürth |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The project presentation at the international symposium "One World: Resistance Art for Peace and Development", held in English and German and translated into Spanish, was attended by c.80 persons from different countries and sparked a lively debate on the possibilities of reintegrating former members of armed groups into civilian society. Some audience members reported changes in attitudes towards former guerrilla fighters. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.frauenindereinenwelt.de/gespraeche-im-museum/Gespraeche_2019/2019_21.-23.06_Intern.%20Ge... |
| Description | Presentation, ECPR Summer School on Methods and Techniques, Budapest |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The presentation "Conflict textiles as (not just) visual, (not just) data" was given by Christine Andrä (post-doctoral project researcher) for post-graduate participants of the course "Visual Politics, Visual Organisations" at the ECPR Summer School on Methods and Techniques, Budapest, Hungary. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Presentation, Peace Week, University of Antioquia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk about the project by project Co-PI Prof Beatriz Arias at the University Week for Peace (Semana Universitaria por la Paz), at the University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Presentation, Zeppelin University, Germany |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The presentation "Wege aus dem Konflikt - Selbst- und Fremdbilder ehemaliger FARC-Kombattant*innen in Kolumbien" (Ways out of the conflict) was given by project post-doctoral researcher Dr Christine Andrä as part of the lecture series "Effects of Peace Operations" at Zeppelin University, Germany. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.zu-daily.de/daily/tiefenbohrung/2019/11-29_andrae-hand-in-hand-fuer-den-frieden.php |
| Description | Reconciliación en el posacuerdo: Construyendo confianzas, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project team organised an online roundtable discussion with FARC peace signatories and members of civil society organisations in Colombia who discussed the possibilities for reconciliation in the country. Co-PI Berit Bliesemann de Guevara presented the project. The event was supported by the University of Antioquia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCT87JvwLMU&t=17s&ab_channel=destejiendo |
| Description | Residency Textile Art for Community Work, Zaragoza, Spain |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Colombian Co-PI Beatriz Arias gave a series of workshops for textile artists and community workers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Ronda de Enfermería, Organisación Colegial de Enfermería |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Colombian project Co-PI Beatriz Arias gave an online presentation about the project methodology, which was attended online by at least 60 persons. Emails received after the event give evidence of changes in views of some of those attending the online seminar. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Roundtable, Narratives in Education symposium, Medellin, Colombia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Co-PIs Beatriz Arias and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara represented the project at a roundtable at the 4th International Symposium on Narratives in Education, 15 November 2019, University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QAh5QJPCzUbwyX4yiG7FRuzkOxyuLNk4/view |
| Description | Siguiéndole el hilo, Artesanal Tecnológica Universidad Nacional, Bogotá |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Colombian Co-PI Beatriz Arias López participated in a conversation and discussion on the origin of textile books as a strategy/method for collecting memories with peace signatories. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Symposium Embodied Performance Practices, Memory, Conflict and Reconciliation, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The project presentation at this symposium to an interdisciplinary and international audience of HE lecturers, postgraduate researchers and NGO representatives sparked lively discussions around the arts-based work with former combatants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Tejer es Punk, Dialogos Comala Macondo, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Colombian Co-PI Beatriz Aras López participated in an online conversation on experiences of using textile narratives to document armed conflict and peace building. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Tejiendo colectivamente la salud mental, Colectivo Pranas Chile, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Colombian Co-PI Beatriz Arias Lopez engaged in a conversation addressed at narrative therapists about the meeting points between the project's textile narrative method and narrative practices (narrative therapy) and how they were connected methodologically in the project (Un-)Stitching Gazes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Textiles para la paz: avances, desafíos y resonancias, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project team organised a public roundtable discussion (online) with members of projects that develop textile initiatives with peace signatories based on the idea that fashion can become a narrative of peace. Co-PI Beatriz Arias participated as one of the speakers, presenting the research project. The event was supported by the University of Antioquia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKFTKEjdzRg&t=8s&ab_channel=destejiendo |
| Description | The state of the peace process in Colombia - fieldwork impressions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A talk about first fieldwork impressions about the current state of the Colombian peace process, as part of a colleague's module on contemporary politics in Latin America, was attended by c.25 students, who engaged in a lively debate about problems of the peace process in Colombia and power in the region. One student asked for advice on how to secure an internship in Colombia to work towards development and justice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Trust Through Needlework: A Conversation, Women in One World, Fürth, Germany |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As expert-in-residence of the virtual exhibition "(Un-)Stitching Gazes | (Des) Tejiendo Miradas", Gaby Franger organised a Zoom conversation between the Co-PIs of this project (Arias López and Bliesemann de Guevara), Freyja Philip of the association Women in One World / Museum of Women's Culture Regional-International in Fürth, Germany and textile artists and activists Pascale Goldenberg (Guldusi project, Germany), Gali Weiss (Making Marks project, Australia) and Nesa Gschwend (Living Textiles project, Switzerland, to talk about the role of trust in textile projects that bring people from different backgrounds, cultures and experiences together. The conversation was recorded, edited and broadcast on the exhibition website/YouTube. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Twitter account @Un_Stitching |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | To promote the virtual international exhibition "(Un-)Stitching Gazes | (Des) Tejiendo Miradas", we created the Twitter account @Un_Stitching, which in the 1.5 months of its existence to date has acquired 88 followers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/un_stitching/ |
| Description | WOW Film Festival conversation and Q&A |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | UK-based Co-PI Berit Bliesemann de Guevara participated in a virtual conversation about "Nature, Violence and the Search for the Disappeared" at the Wales one World (WOW) online film festival 2021, to which she contributed insights from the project. The talk with colleagues was followed by a lively Q&A with the audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Workshop Good Practices in Unarmed Civilian Protection/Accompaniment in Latin America, Bogota |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | We presented two videos about our project with former FARC combatants to a group of 40 practitioners/NGO representatives and academics in unarmed civilian protection/accompaniment in Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, followed by a discussion about the nonviolent accompaniment of former combatants as a form of conflict prevention. Some participants changed their views on working with former combatants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
| Description | Workshop, women's group Convivamos, Medellin/Colombia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Workshop held by project Co-PI Beatriz Arias with the Group "Tejedoras de Esperanza" (Weavers of Hope) of the women's NGO Convivamos in Medellín, attended by 12 women who participated actively in the process of producing textile narratives about the reconciliation process in Colombia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | ¿Cómo se construye el sujeto para la paz con las comunidades? - Experiencias universitarias, University of Antioquia, online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | PI Beatriz Arias participated in an online conversation with teachers and students during the Week of the University for Peace to share the project's textile methodology at the University of Antioquia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiTtHby0MD4&t=247s&ab_channel=UniversidaddeAntioquia |
| Description | ¿Cómo se construye el sujeto para la paz con las comunidades? Experiencias universitarias, Semana Universitaria por la Paz, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Colombian Co-PI Beatriz Arias López presented developments in the project (Un-)Stitching Gazes and reflected on its connections with the aims of the Special Unit for Peace at the University of Antioquia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |