Representaciones Sociales de la Paz en Estudiantes de la Universidad de Santander

Abstract

This research aims to analyse the impacts of the Chair of Peace on the social representations of peace in the students at the university of Santander. The chair of peace was stablished by Law 1732 of 2014 and regulated by the decree 1038 of 2015, and was born as a attempt of the National Government to ensure the creation and strengthening of a cultural peace in Colombia. The implementation of the chair in higher education institutions is important as it allows the student to participate in the discussion about the construction of peace in the country and generates significant contributions from their experience and academic training. The question that guides the course of this investigation is: what is the effect that Peace Education produces on the social representations of the concept of peace in the students of the University of Santander?

To answer this question, this work will begin by defining the theoretical and conceptual aspects around the two main categories of study. Firstly, it will address the concept of social representations, explaining from its conceptualizations to the theories relating to its construction process (Abric, 2001; Jodelet, 1986), then, it will review the historical evolution of the concept of peace and will emphasize the studies of Johan Galtung (1996, 2003) who develops the theory of positive and negative peace. The second part will present an overview of peace education, emphasizing on the process of implementation of the Peace Chair in educational institutions of secondary and higher education. Finally, the results obtained through the analysis of the organizational structures of the social representations of peace evoked by the students will be presented, which demonstrates the incidence of participation in the Chair of peace on the perceptions of the concept of peace.