I interviewed Carlos León Quintero, who holds a PhD in Rural Colombia, he now works in the Ministry of Agriculture in the rural development section. We talked about the role of rurality in Colombia, and I asked him two main questions: whether storytelling workshops make sense in rural contexts, and what the right approach should be.
He told me they are relevant, but only if they respect the fact that rural communities already have their own forms of oratory and storytelling. The goal is not to arrive as saviors or to impose external methods, but to create a two-way learning process. According to him, rural dialogues can teach Colombia and the West a lot: how to deal with slow consensus-building, alternative ways of resolving conflicts, different rhythms of conversation, and different cosmogonies. He mentioned an Indigenous community where a dialogue lasted fifteen years.
From this conversation, I realized that my project should act as a bridge between rural communities and the Western or institutional world. He emphasized how communication often breaks down when communities need to speak with companies or the State. In many rural areas, oral communication is the main medium because of educational gaps. He noted that it is common for people not to finish primary school, although this is not the case everywhere. Still, it is a factor that shapes how communication works.
We also talked about Orlando Fals Borda and participatory action research, which fits well with the idea of mutual learning. The main takeaway from this interview is simple but essential: any meaningful work in rural Colombia has to be a two-way process. Learning from them is the starting point.