Written by: Esteban Morales

Abstract: The increasing ubiquity of digital platforms mediates existing and emergent ecologies of violence. In countries with a history of armed conflicts and cultures of violence, such as Colombia, this platformization of violence profoundly transforms the lived experiences of citizens, as illustrated by the normalization of harmful behavior. In this context, scholars have noted the critical need to produce strategies of estrangement to destabilize the meaning-making processes of violence and enable the creation and sustainment of cultures of peace. In this study, I explore how the estrangement of platformized violence can support transformative learning that changes how we experience and make sense of cultures of violence. Findings show that participants underwent three disorienting experiences: de-normalization, de-trivialization, and de-individualization. Overall, this study has implications for learning about peace and digital culture by foregrounding the possibilities that underlie integrating social media into peace education efforts. 

 Keywords: Peace education, Transformative Learning, Social media, Violence, Platformized violence, Estrangement, Colombia