Prácticas sociales de paz en las fiestas populares del municipio de Rivera (Huila)

Prácticas sociales de paz en las fiestas populares del municipio de Rivera (Huila)

In a country with a history of violence and where the death of thousands of citizens has been the protagonist, arises the initiative to build a culture of peace at regional and national levels. With this spirit, this research project, led by the Master in Education and Culture of Peace of the Surcolombian University on social practices, was born. In turn, it leads the project called “Habitar la ciudad desde prácticas sociales significativas en la construcción de paz, a través de las fiestas populares del departamento del Huila”. Following the line proposed by the macro-project, this article presents some results of the research work carried out around the Sanjuanero Huilense Children’s Departmental Festival, which takes place in the municipality of Rivera (Huila). The purpose was to identify and understand the significant social practices to promote peace, which express different social actors in the events of the festival and their contributions to the construction of a culture of peace. The results were obtained through processes of qualitative research and elements of grounded theory such as observation, analysis and interpretation, which were based on the accounts of participants, organizers and spectators of the festival. In this sense, the research aimed to identify and understand the social practices of peace that could arise in the heart of Rivera’s festival: their origins, organizational processes and experiences of social actors.