Thinking about the public library in an intercultural and decolonial perspective to build peace in another way

Abstract

When it comes to proposing the relationship between public libraries and peacebuilding, the location of thought in contexts of high armed conflict emerges –almost naturally–. It appears, on the one hand, the reflection on the implications and effects that libraries have had in the midst of the war and, on the other, the approaches on their intervention with victims and ex-combatants as a contribution to the construction of peace. In this sense, the contributions of public libraries to peace in Colombia have been reduced to their understanding and intervention in contexts of armed conflict, leaving out other contexts, other subjects and other ways of thinking and making peace(s) that could well contribute to it in spaces such as public libraries. Therefore, the relevance of the contributions of the decolonial and intercultural option is contemplated to think outside the limits of the modern-world system, not only the constructions of peace(s) but the place of public libraries in the socia.