This article outlines the development of an appropriate research approach, including methods from diverse disciplines, for researching the Colombian state-funded social music programme Music for Reconciliation (Música para la Reconciliación). After outlining the Colombian context and the literature, a pilot with ten participants is discussed. Findings show the contributions of sound postcards as part of life histories for capturing the experiences of displaced people in a country recovering from war. Their evocative capacity enriched the interviewees’ narrative, illustrating diverse sonorous landscapes throughout their lives that evidenced the changes generated by both the violence and programme participation. The conclusions offer suggestions for readers based in the arts, health, social sciences and beyond, interested in the uses of music and music education for other-than-musical purposes.
Diversos estudios han puesto de manifiesto la capacidad de la práctica musical conjunta para contribuir a la construcción de espacios de paz en aquellos lugares en los que sus ciudadanos han sufrido situaciones de violencia. Sin embargo, no existe en la literatura científica un estudio de revisión que analice los impactos de este tipo de espacios musicales colectivos sobre el tejido social. Este artículo explora los efectos de experiencias con prácticas musicales colectivas en diferentes contextos con comunidades que sufren o han sufrido situaciones de conflicto armado o guerra. Con este fin, se ha realizado una revisión sistemática de la literatura científica y un análisis exhaustivo de los estudios localizados. La muestra final seleccionada comprende un total de quince estudios en los que se muestra la capacidad de los espacios musicales colectivos para servir de soporte a las personas y comunidades víctimas, tanto durante como después del conflicto.
This chapter analyzes the theoretical concept of social fabric, as well as the damage which armed conflict has caused it and how art can contribute to rebuilding it. Affective and symbolic characteristics of art, engaging the body, and the act of collective interpretation-creation may provide the conditions required for the necessary intangible and tangible factors to rebuild a social fabric damaged by war. Artistic spaces, as shown by a case in Colombia, can be an important place to generate, especially, intangible factors which keep the flow of social fabric active, such as values and beliefs, sense of community, confidence, and emotional stability of the individual and the group.
The armed conflict in Colombia leaves many families with no other option than to be displaced, which affects their social status and identity. This article reprises a qualitative study that analyses the life histories of eight families, all of whom were victims of the armed conflict, whose children participate in the Batuta National Foundation’s ‘Music for Reconciliation’ programme. The results of the study indicate that displacement impacted identity, resulting in the unsettlement of the social place of the participants. This was due to their anonymous state on arrival at their new places, with no support networks or social recognition. Together with the distrust created by the violence experienced, this led to attitudes of isolation, through which the individual became increasingly vulnerable to the dynamics of violence. This text analyses the concept of temporary musical identity, and the results show the possibilities that collective musical spaces offer for restoring the social place of the participants.
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