Art and corporeal nature. Supporting intercultural dialogue

Abstract

In complex contexts where are multiple visions of life, ethnicities and social sectors that have not yet been integrated, is necessary to rethink the communicative processes taking the whole human being as a starting point. The Mayan knowledge provides the concept Jun Winäq that means the whole person in all dimensions. This element gives bases to create new spaces for dialogue, including deep interactions in social diversity. This paper focuses on art as a communication platform, which takes into account the emotional and spiritual human aspects, besides the mental elaborations. From corporeity as a code, it is assumed that the body goes beyond the intellectual processes; an embodied mind exists, and provides important elements to overcome confrontation, and build supportive relationships. Through dance as a path between nodes of community networks, music as social praxis, theater as an experience of otherness, and writing as a bridge between intertextualities, this research develops a process of artistic creation with youth from Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. From this space and the artistic works produced, boys and girls express their proposals for coexistence, facing the current social challenges.