Testimonial narratives, truth commissions, and counter-pedagogies of violence in Colombia and Peru

Wilson Vasquez, G and Paez, Y ORCID: 0000-0003-0778-5181 (2026) 'Testimonial narratives, truth commissions, and counter-pedagogies of violence in Colombia and Peru.' Globalisation, Societies and Education. doi: 10.1080/14767724.2026.2736855

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Abstract

Truth Commissions (TCs) have become a vital instrument of global transitional justice, where testimonial narratives play a central role in truth-seeking and collective memory. While these processes contribute to the recognition of victims’ experiences, the way TCs engage with testimonial narratives reveals significant limitations: trapping communities in cycles of re-telling, deploying reductive categories, and flattening the temporal complexities of violence. This paper argues that by exploring how local communities work with testimonial narratives, we can see alternative pedagogies of memory and violence that challenge these institutional constraints. Drawing on a local museum in Putumayo, Colombia, and the HIJXS de Perú collective (originally an acronym translated to ‘Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice, against Oblivion and Silence’), we argue that these practices become powerful counter-pedagogies of violence that foster nuanced understandings through creativity, community-making, and new modes of re-existence.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Truth Commission, transitional justice, testimonial narratives, public pedagogies, peacebuilding, memory
Divisions:	School of Education and Humanities
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2026 13:52
Last Modified:	24 Sep 2026 13:52
ISSN:	1476-7724
URN:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17944

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