The dynamic dance of nonviolence in education: Embracing tensions and embodiment in critical times

Abstract

The lack of attention to nonviolence in education is highly problematic, and this article elaborates nonviolence as a new direction in a time of crisis. First, nonviolence is conceptualized as holding tensions to contest violence and cultivate nonviolent relations in the everyday praxis of education in both inner work and outer work in engaging social differences. Second, an aesthetics-based approach at intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal levels is introduced to address violence and nonviolence in curriculum. Third, we conceptualize how embodied living and mindfulness are crucial components in understanding and practicing nonviolence. This article brings philosophical understanding, artistic attunement, and a meditative stance together to demonstrate what possibilities can be opened by embracing nonviolence in curriculum studies. Throughout the article, we argue that nonviolence not only opposes violence but is also a positive, integrative force that we should become attuned to in order to transform curriculum and education. In addition, we discuss three theoretical and practical implications of our work, as well as four domains for further research.