Stories to Wake Up: Women Narratives Reconstructing Themselves as Sociohistorical Subjects

Abstract

This article reports on a research conducted at a private university in Colombia, as part of an English language course in which the topics of study addressed the culture and history of Colombia and Boyacá through art. Narratives from three female students were analyzed, from a decolonial perspective, to observe their processes of reconstruction as sociohistorical subjects taking into account their experiences in the contexts where they study, live in, and come from. The data for this research was gathered inside and outside the classroom through learners’ diaries and dialogical interviews held with the researcher. Narratives served the purpose of making visible elements of those processes and allowed to explore three of them: (1) The construction of particular relationships in and with the world; (2) a perception of unity of past, present, and future; and (3) a sense of their personal and spiritual growth in time. Nevertheless, the narrative of each participant had unique features and values. The results showed that each female had specific anecdotes constructing their experiences, relationships, and plans in their world. One conclusion of the study refers to how the relevance of family, context, childhood memories, and life expectations offer meaningful and memorable topics of discussion within English language lessons for undergraduate learners.

Keywords

• English language course
• decolonial studies
• narratives
• reasoning
• sociohistorical subjects