The sociocultural construction of the dialogue in conflict situations into the non-formal educational communities: The case of the “Va de Nuez”, a group of young people at risk in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Abstract

The article presents partial results of a research that raises as a question, what is the role of relationships in the construction of learning, in a non-formal education group, where they work with youngsters in socially-at-risk environments? A great part of the analysis is done from concepts proposed by the social constructionism of Kenneth Gergen.It was found that, in this community the educators use dialogue as one of the main strategies to open communication channels, thereby allowing to build generative or positive relational processes. At the same time, coexistence allows sociocultural construction of dialogue to encourage processes of cognitive and personal development from constant group and self-reflection, as well from collaborative work, where the participation of each member remains essential to provide answers in conflict situations. This processis accompanied by the educators, whom guide allowingto explore diverse possibilities in the resolution of problems, comprising the individual dimension in its introspective character and the interrelational dimension of the social link. Within the qualitative perspective the hermeneutic/interpretative approach was chosen, thatprovides the tools to analyze the representations and meanings that social subjects buildfrom their own actions, drawn from their narrations, to comprehend the way in which they get involved with other social actors, thus, the knowledge is produced from the perspective of the groupin a constant symbiotic relationship between theory and praxis.