What do we do?
Diaspora Woman’s promoters have created a unique methodology for our group. Its explicit purpose is the psychological healing and empowerment of women. We have named it Memoria Activa (Active Memory). This approach articulates the methodology of Participatory Action Research (PAR) from a psychosocial and feminist perspective.
Using this method, we consider many sources of knowledge such as scientific investigation, formation, political action, critical analysis, and the diagnosis of situations. We also try to encourage change in women’s situations and to revise their roles in the past, present and future. All of this we do by the appropriation of spaces and processes, the questioning of the predominant categories and the elaboration of new concepts.
Memoria Activa is based on the sharing of testimonies, active listening, dialogue between narrator and listener and flexible participation. This methodology allows the person who shares their testimony to experience the transformation of their story and memory, thus bringing out new emotions and facilitating new readings of their experience.
We know that, by mobilising women’s memories, we are also mobilising the memories of past generations. This implies a sensory exercise that involves the body, the energies, and the spirituality of those who tell the story, and of those who hear it. This is the reason why we are developing processes of closure using rituals that facilitate the reconnection with Colombia or the symbolic return to our motherland.
Sharing of testimonies
“A testimony should always be given closure in the company of lots of desserts, music, and,
as far as possible, by dancing or a symbolic act”
Our guiding thread is the sharing of testimonies and the specific way in which we receive them. In this process, it is fundamental that women feel in control of their decision to speak. They are the ones who decide the time, the place, the format, and the people who are invited.
Food, music, rituals, and decor are also fundamental. Even while far from our homeland, we evoke Colombian elements to recall positive memories and to transform the pain of the story they are sharing. This way, we create safe and affectionate spaces that enable the reconstruction of trust, allowing them to take one more step to reconciliation.
Another one of the steps of sharing testimonies is collective analysis. Its purpose is to put these stories up for dialogue with the experiences of other women, sharing knowledge and offering new viewpoints. These analyses foster the coding of the testimonies and the investigations that we carry out.
At the same time, collective reflection allows us to identify and address our suggestions for advocacy actions, either in the Colombian range or in other countries of residence, international cooperation, the academy, other social organisations, other country’s diasporas, etc.
Within the context of a safe and confidential environment, we create a space of psychosocial support where individual truth is transformed into reflective collective knowledge. This is a foundation which creates empathy, which then allows for the retelling of the true history of Colombia. In the pursuit of peace, we aim to awaken feelings of reconciliation and collaboration. We believe that the act of listening is the most effective path towards achieving this goal. In line with this, documenting and structuring testimonies is one of the most significant contributions of Diaspora Woman to the peace of Colombia.
In summary, collective analysis is the process that helps us make progress regarding the feminist objective of transforming experience into knowledge, and knowledge into determinate suggestions for action.
Training
Training processes are key components of the personal and collective empowerment of each and every member of Diaspora Woman. The topics of these trainings cover many aspects, including methodological (psychosocial attention, feminist analysis), theoretical (human rights, peacebuilding), regulatory (resolution 1325 of the United Nations regarding the participation of women and their protection from gender-based violence, victim assistance policies), and political (the situation of the peacebuilding process, the women's movement in Colombia, alliances with other countries).
We understand investigation as part of the training process. It is important for us to have knowledge of the development related to the participation of women (and the diaspora in general) in the peacebuilding process, truth commissions and transitional justice measures. But, most importantly, we find it fundamental to make efforts to reconstruct the history of Colombian women in the country in which they live, to identify the spaces that they have opened throughout the years and to learn about their contributions to their host countries.
The transformation of a testimony into an artistic piece is a symbolic recognition and appreciation of those women who share their stories. The artistic result contributes to legitimating the woman’s experience, strengthening her self-esteem, and achieving integration into the host country.
So far, we have produced a vast number of literature, dances, gastronomical experiences, videos, collective photography exhibitions, poetry anthologies, paintings, arpilleras and theatre plays.
Artistic transformation
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We are a network:
Each team shares experiences to nurture the design and implementation of Diaspora Woman.
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