A Social Lab Initiative: Organized Leadership and “Organic” Forms of Mediation

Keywords: Social Transformation; Social Lab; Mediation; Fieldwork; Research

Abstract: This research project looks to understand how a city (Medellin) that has experienced 40+ years of violent conflicts is not engulfed in complete chaos, or has entirely vanished? How, given the harsh conditions that youth are subjected to, some are making a difference and developing their talents and putting their work to the service of their community? Moreover, at least in the last forty years, social conflicts in this city have been dealt with at multiple levels: the level of organized leadership, and also at the level of individual informal, almost “organic”, mediators who lack recognition. By identifying and trying to understand the mechanisms of how these forms of mediation function, this work calls attention to the varied ways social conflicts are mediated by those who experience them, and sheds light on the cultural and social dimensions that are implicit in the mediation and transformation of conflicts