Narrativas colectivas y memorias del conflicto armado colombiano

The present research aimed to comprehend the collective narratives and memories about peace-building and armed conflict present within families who have lived forced displacement, as well as those of their children in early childhood. The article focus is on life stories of the children’s mothers and grandmothers, about armed conflict, its transits, and the new meanings of the experiences lived, opening possibilities for alternative futures of peace. The study took place through fieldwork, which used workshops to collect collective narratives in order to comprehend memories and transform practices towards peace-building. The results and conclusions came after categorical narrative analysis. We concluded that families have suffer negative effects due to armed conflict, such as forced displacement, lost of family members, fear to lose own’s life or the one of other family members, as well as the lost of territories and of social and cultural practices associated to rurality. The transit from the origin territory to the host territory have also prompt learnings and solidarity practices. This has allowed families the co-creation of new meanings in the present to promote peace-building practices and the emergence of future possibilities. Families have found, in their meaningful relations, in the new meanings given to the territories, and in the contact with the environment, ways to resist to violence and to contribute to peace-building processes.