School discursive practices and their potential for peacebuilding and social justice

Abstract

Colombia is a country with a history of violence. The educational context has been no exception. Examining the way peace and violence are enacted or reproduced through discourse in school settings can help to inform processes of positive social transformation. In this paper, I present a critical microethnographic study on the potential of classroom discourse for peacebuilding in a fifth and sixth grade classroom of a public school on the north coast of Colombia. By focusing on a series of episodes of classroom life, I will draw attention to the relationships between the grammar of interactions and the social structures that are invoked through discourse choices. This analysis can provide theoretical and practical inspiration for reconstructing interactions that more solidly contribute to peacebuilding. Keywords: Classroom interaction; Colombia; discourse analysis; peacebuilding; positive discourse analysis; critical discourse analysis.