Peasant Memory and Collective Reconstruction: Social Appropriation of Knowledge with the Municipal Association of Peasant Users (AMUC) of Pradera, Valle del Cauca

This work paper presents the results of a Social Appropriation of Knowledge (SAC) exercise derived from the research project Politics of Memory, from the Global to the Local: Construction of Local Memories of the Colombian Armed Conflict in the AMUC Association of Pradera (Valle) (INV3205), developed by the Cooperative University of Colombia. The process was carried out with the Municipal Association of Peasant Users (AMUC), with the purpose of strengthening community capacities for the reconstruction of social memory and the re-signification of experiences of armed conflict.

Using the memory work methodology, spaces for dialogue, recovery of oral histories, collective reconstruction of the organization’s history, and participatory feedback were created. Findings reveal that peasant memory is a tool for resistance, dignity, and identity reaffirmation, transcending institutional narratives that often frame memory merely as symbolic reparation.