About this Event
Weaving Stories, Weaving Peace: Sharing Experiences from Colombia and Scotland
14:00-17:00, 29 September 2026
Debates Chamber, Glasgow University Union
Organised by the Glasgow Latin American Research Network and the Peaceful, Secure, and Empowered Societies Interdisciplinary Research Theme, University of Glasgow, in partnrship with the Scottish Peace Platform
2026 marks ten years since the signing of Colombia's landmark Peace Agreement – a milestone that offers a rare opportunity to reflect on a decade of hard-won lessons about what rebuilding trust, livelihoods, and community after conflict requires. This workshop brings those lessons into conversation with Scotland's own growing movement around sustainable textiles, circular economy, and social enterprise.
The workshop is held as part of a wider programme of events reflecting on ten years of peacebuilding in Colombia, identifying lessons in policy, practice, and thinking from civil society that hold relevance to Scotland and beyond. It is delivered in partnership between the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Peace Platform.
We're delighted to welcome Manifiesta, a women-led social enterprise from Colombia that uses clothing production as a tool for peacebuilding, supporting the reintegration of former combatants and creating sustainable livelihoods for victims of conflict. Through fashion and textiles, Manifiesta has built a model of social transformation that turns the very act of making clothes into an act of peacebuilding and reconciliation.
What to expect:
🧵 An interactive workshop: participants will work directly with Manifiesta to explore how textile production can foster dialogue, trust-building, and reconciliation between societal stakeholders. Using textile practices as a shared starting point, the workshop creates space to exchange experiences, draw connections across very different contexts, and reflect on what Colombia's journey might offer Scotland's own conversations around sustainable and socially engaged textile practice.
👗 A fashion show: the event closes with a fashion show showcasing both Manifiesta's work as a form of political and creative expression, and the pieces created by workshop participants on the day.
This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from practitioners at the forefront of using fashion and textiles as tools for peace, social justice and transformation, and community-building, and to think together about what solidarity and shared learning between Colombia and Scotland could look like.
Event venue & nearby stays
Glasgow University Union, 32 University Avenue, Glasgow, United Kingdom
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