Cuestionando el lugar del conocimiento: investigación participativa e indisciplinada. El caso del proyecto “Escuela, territorio y posconflicto” en el sur del Tolima

The “School, Territory and Post-Conflict” project was developed in southern Tolima with the aim of contributing to the construction of a culture of peace. It included the participation of the universities of East Anglia and Ibagué, as well as Eureka Educativa; teachers from rural and urban educational institutions (educational line), as well as leaders of youth, women and coffee-growing organizations (community line) were involved as co-researchers. From the first contacts, the community line reconfigured the research question, and went from investigating how the armed conflict had impacted the territory, to
investigating the ways in which local practices had built peace, even during the conflict. This shift in focus not only had epistemological consequences, shifting from the analysis of peace from war (the traditional approach in the country) to the analysis of peace from peace itself, but it had three key political and ethical implications: (1) it raised the importance of constructing an alternative narrative about the country, (2) it questioned the power relations prevailing in these territories, and (3) it rethought the place of researchers. In this way, it promoted another way of developing the relationship between communities and work teams linked to universities. The chapter addresses this relationship, investigating the knowledge-power relationship in the construction of peace.
In addition, it emphasizes the importance of promoting undisciplined research, which seeks to overcome questions and orientations validated from standardized knowledge, as a central element for greater community participation.