Between ‘the paradox of liberalism’ and ‘the paradox of decoloniality’: education for peacebuilding in conflict settings

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article extends current debates in Education for Peacebuilding (EfP) in conflict settings. It presents and discusses two paradoxes I have observed when examining EfP literature and engaging in conversations with EfP scholars: ‘the paradox of liberalism’ and ‘the paradox of decoloniality’. I unpack these two paradoxes by engaging in conceptual synthesis and analysis and stitching together scholarly arguments in EfP, the larger field of peacebuilding, and decolonial thinking. I argue that by assuming liberal norms of conflict management, EfP scholarship is increasingly divorced from the complex material ontologies of contemporary conflicts. I caution against appropriative invocations of decolonial work in EfP, and I draw on actual examples to discuss their manifestations. I highlight tendencies to prioritise the onto-epistemological concerns of decoloniality over the political ones and to overlook the immediate needs of Southern populations. The article offers theoretically informed reflections and questions to stimulate further conversation.