Between Rootedness and Expulsion: Construction of Meaning and Life Projects in Rural Youth of Boyacá

Abstract

This research corresponds to a participatory action research exercise that aims to accompany the construction of meaning among rural youth, in the department of Boyacá, Colombia, to identify opportunities for productive projects in their territory. The research is approached from an interpretative approach that emphasizes the subjective constructions of social actors, considering that the phenomenon is not observed with universal laws that prescribe causes and effects, but that multiple rationalities are conceived around the concepts of rural entrepreneurship, migration from the countryside to the city, vision of the future, among others. The methodological approach is qualitative of a phenomenological nature, to seek to reveal the schemes of meaning of young people around their plans for the immediate future. The results indicate the existence of a discourse based on the idea that it is necessary to migrate to find opportunities for personal growth and improvement of living conditions. The discourse shared by the young people is accompanied by the lack of interest of community leaders and local governments in incorporating this population in the exercises of thinking about the territory.