Peace Education and Colombia’s Efforts Against Violence: A Literature Review of Cátedra de la Paz

Abstract

As long as there has been violence in organized societies, achieving peace has been a goal through different means, including education. In Colombia –a country where the national government and the guerrilla FARC reached a peace agreement–, education was set to be essential to promote a culture of peace. Accordingly, this article presents a literature review of Cátedra de la Paz, a peace education course that seeks to encourage and strengthen a culture of peace in every educational institution in Colombia. The literature review suggests that, whereas this course reveals a positive impact in the communities, a lack of institutional support –which could stem from larger-scale political and societal conflicts over what peace means and how to achieve it– trumps its implementation. Furthermore, this paper argues that –if Cátedra de la Paz or other future peace education courses aim to promote a culture of peace grounded in contextualized needs and opportunities– critical lenses towards the topics and pedagogy are necessary.