Peace Center: Learning Experiences of Arts Students from the Central University of Ecuador at the Conclusion of the National Strike of June 2022

Abstract

On June 13, 2022, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities, CONAIE, declared a National Strike. For the indigenous movement, the symbolic taking of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is important in its mobilization processes. This means for the peasantry to search for allies who support their actions. The students of the Faculty of Arts of the Central University of Ecuador organized to adapt the faculty facilities as a Peace Center, intended to provide food and shelter to the farmers who moved to Quito. Members of 38 communities in the province of Cotopaxi, located 192 kilometers from Quito, belonging to the UNOCAM Peasant Union, occupied this Peace Center. The objective of this work is to demonstrate what has been learned by the peasant arts students. A qualitative methodology was developed that encompasses participant observation and semi-structure interviews through which a memory of what happened is made. At the end of this interaction, the students changed their perception about politics, interculturality and the meaning of art.