Warriors and Rebels for a Decolonial Future: Cultivating Social Agents of Change in English Teaching

• In Event: Intercultural and Peacebuilding Approaches to Transformation in Curricula and Beyond

Abstract

During more than 50 years of sociopolitical unrest in Colombia, extreme violence has been mostly translated to marginalized students in public schools in Colombia. This critical ethnographic case study looks at how a social justice and peacebuilding curriculum (SJPBC) has been used in the English classroom to potentialize students to learn English skills that allow them to discuss in/out of school violence and resolve social problems that are relevant for their communities. The fieldwork was carried out in a public high school, in Bogotá, Colombia with three English teachers and their young students. Preliminary findings reveal how the teachers counter neoliberal narratives of English teaching by negotiating the curriculum with the students to promote social cohesion that benefits language learning.

Author

• Yecid Ortega, University of Toronto