ILLITERACY IN OLDER ADULTS – VICTIMS OF THE COLOMBIAN ARMED CONFLICT: AN UNDERSTANDING FROM THEIR SUBJECTIVITY

Abstract

Literacy is a universal theme, its materialization is the flag in many countries of the world, among which Colombia stands out in its fight for the eradication of illiteracy and the overcoming of the armed conflict. This article describes the progress of a research carried out with a community of elderly victims of the armed conflict in a situation of illiteracy residing in the municipality of Momil Córdoba, Colombia. The main objective of this research is to analyze the conceptions of the elderly victims of the armed conflict about illiteracy and the need to approach reading and writing. For this, an investigation with an ethnographic approach was implemented with the participation of 15 older adults residing in Momil municipality and in the surrounding villages. The information collection technique was a semi-structured interview. The results of the research were analyzed with the Nvivo software, and the main conclusions point to the significance of literacy as a differentiating factor in the lives of the victims of the conflict. It was found that the need to approach reading and writing is latent within this community, and that the encouragement to start the educational journey does not disappear with the passage of time. A novel aspect of this research is that it allows specifying how illiteracy is a factor that hinders access to educational and employment opportunities for the population. At the same time, learning to read and write are fundamental for the exercise of citizenship from their status as victims, guaranteeing the understanding of their rights as victims and greater autonomy in the process of enforceability of the same, that is, the reading and writing processes are essential for the dignity and protection of the elderly victim population, since it allows them, in turn, to have the ability to accept/deny and sign legal documents without the intervention of third parties. Keywords: Illiteracy, Victims, Armed Conflict, Education, Older Adults DOI： https://doi.org/10.35741/issn.0258-2724.58.3.48