Critical Peace Education Research Articles

Critical Discourse Analysis: An Effective Tool for Critical Peace Education Informed by Freirean Dialogue

This study emphasizes that research and practice regarding employing dialogue as transformative pedagogy should be investigated and cultivated by peace educators in ways relevant to various contexts. In this regard, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has a valuable potential to contribute to the development of this relatively new scholarly field by providing effective tools to problematize and analyze social practices. This paper explores critical peace education as it is informed by the dialogical method of emancipatory education, and scrutinizes the promising potential of CDA as an essential tool for on-going research in the field. Towards this goal, this paper includes two subsections. The first section discusses Freirean dialogue and his six preconditions (i.e., love, humility, faith, hope, trust, and critical thinking) as fundamental constructs for critical peace education. The second section explores how the theories, goals, and methods of CDA in current discourse studies connect to constructs in Freirean dialogue and peace education. This section concentrates on four prominent approaches developed by Scollon, Gee, Kress, and Fairclough to underline their key aspects from a Freirian dialogic perspective. The final section discusses the possible affordances and limitations for employing CDA in the study of critical peace education.

Toward a Decolonial Praxis in Critical Peace Education: Postcolonial Insights and Pedagogic Possibilities

This paper argues for a decolonial praxis in critical peace education. Drawing on an integrative review method, the paper synthesises approaches, practices, and theories from peace and peace education literature with special attention paid to the concepts of critical peace education, cosmopolitanism, postcolonial thought, and decolonial action. The paper particularly explores the philosophical contributions of postcolonial and decolonial thought and how each could help toward decolonising approaches for critical peace education. The concept of ‘structural violence’ is critiqued as obfuscating individual responsibility. Insights are drawn here from the closely related field of global citizenship education that argues for a focus less on empathy and more on causal responsibility. Before concluding, the paper discusses a ‘pedagogy for the privileged’ and ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ that both might better support a decolonial praxis for critical peace education in theory and practice.

Using Collaborative Action Research to Address Bullying and Violence in a Colombian High School EFLClassroom

This paper describes how a collaborative action research project implemented in an underprivileged high school in Bogotá helped an English teacher and her students discuss issues of social justice with a special focus on bullying. It also discusses how the English teacher used her class to connect global and local issues to sensitize students to their own social inequalities. To do this, the teacher used social justice, critical peace education, and globalization as a framework that guided her research and practices. The students, the teacher, and I, as a researcher, collaborated to cocreate lessons whereby students were conscientized about normalized aggression in the school. The findings of this research suggest the following (a) students became more sensitive to and aware of the violent culture that existed in the school, (b) the activities empowered them to become advocates for social change, and (c) the actions taken translated into the community becoming central as praxis. I conclude that the English classroom has the capacity for social transformation as it allows for alternative pedagogical approaches targetting the students’ needs.

Examining learning in the course, “Inclusive Leadership for Sustainable Peace”

ABSTRACTThe undergraduate, introductory course, ‘Inclusive Leadership for Sustainable Peace’ aimed to cultivate sustainable peace leaders by inviting students to clarify their own core values and by examining: macro UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals and the Earth Charter; values and approaches of global sustainable peace leaders in their historic and community contexts; and local leadership in organizations committed to healthy ecosystems, society equity, and viable economies. Offered in the spring of 2017 and 2018 at a predominately white, Euro-American, and large master’s comprehensive university in the United States, the core pedagogy of the course involved a critical pedagogy of place, critical peace education for sustainability, a systems approach to leadership, and contemplative inquiry, aimed at promoting deep learning. The primary research question for this study is ‘What do students learn about themselves, others, and their ability to change the world from engaging in this course?’ This exploratory qualitative study involved 10 students. Findings indicate that participants gained personal value clarification, career clarification, and a deeper understanding of their power to make a difference. The article will contribute to the advancement of sustainable peace leadership education.

The philosophical challenges of critical peace education in the Palestinian-Israeli context

ABSTRACT This article presents and analyzes two examples of peace education practices in the Israeli-Palestinian context. Zochrot is an organization dedicated to raising public awareness of the Palestinian Nakba, especially among Jews in Israel. The School for Peace is a Jewish-Arab organization that conducts encounter activities with the goal of encouraging participants to become active in relation to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Both practices are grounded in critical pedagogy and postcolonial literature, and their aim is to change existing power structures. Current political realities, however, which include oppression, occupation, and injustice, exacerbate the challenge of this goal. We identify three challenges that demand attention if these practices are to realize their transformative potential: essentialism, responsibility of the victim, and singular utopia. Finally, we highlight the importance of hybrid identity as an educational approach that is a promising path for realizing the transformative potential of critical PE.

“Students can change a school”: Understanding the role of youth leadership in building a school culture of peace

What is the impact of youth interfaith dialogues on students and school communities? What role does the inclusion of opportunities for youth leadership in the “program design play? We implemented a series of such dialogues, which then led to youth‐designed and implemented peace projects at their school sites. Using qualitative and quantitative assessments, this article adds to the literature on critical peace education, offering useful insights for both practitioners and researchers.

Southern voices in peace education: interrogating race, marginalisation and cultural violence in the field

ABSTRACTThree gaps seem to be present within the literature of peace education: relatively little self-critique of the internal workings of the field; a dearth of studies featuring the personal narratives of peace educators; and an underrepresentation of peace educators from the Global South. To address these three gaps, this qualitative investigation explores the personal narratives of Latin American, Asian and African peace educators and critiques certain assumptions and norms underlying the field. We primarily draw on Galtung’s concept of cultural violence, Bajaj’s critical peace education and Connell’s Southern Theory to make our critiques. We examine 13 semi-structured interviews using grounded theory analysis. Three themes relating to cultural and structural violence emerge from these interviews: discriminatory hurdles for Southern peace educators, intercultural tensions in the classroom and linguistic inequality in opportunities for professional mobility. These may or may not reflect the experiences of other peace educators from the Global South or minority practitioners working within the Global North. But by discussing these forms of violence, we hope to show the value of foregrounding the perspectives and lived experiences of underrepresented groups – not only in peace education but also in academia more broadly.

A Bakhtinian take on languaging in a dual language immersion classroom

Language brings a classroom to life and crafts the teaching and learning space. Sociocultural theories of language acquisition and learning focus on the role of language as a mediator for development. While research on languaging and translanguaging practices in English medium and multilingual classrooms is on the rise, less attention has been paid to the languaging work occurring in the translanguaging space of the dual language immersion classroom. To this end, this study explores the languaging choices of a second grade French immersion teacher as he imparts both language learning objectives and his enactment of critical peace education. This article provides a micro-discourse perspective of the speech genres utilized within a single lesson on adjectives conducted in both French and English. Data analysis revealed the ways in which students and their teacher together languaged academic French and peace education in and through different speech genres. This study demonstrates the affordances of a speech genre analysis for researching multilingualism in dual language learning settings. Implications for pedagogy and theory about bi/multilingual discourse are discussed.

Critical peace education in contexts of historical trauma: A review of Emotion and Ttaumatic conflict: Reclaiming healing in education.

Critical peace education in contexts of historical trauma: A review of Emotion and Ttaumatic conflict: Reclaiming healing in education.

Con-/divergences between postcolonial and critical peace education: towards pedagogies of decolonization in peace education

This paper focuses on the limitations of the Eurocentric modernist framework that undergirds Freirean theory and critical pedagogy in relation to critical peace education, highlighting in particular the contributions of post-colonial and decolonial thinking. The paper posits that critical approaches to peace education need to consider these limitations in pushing critical peace education to engage more postcolonial and decolonial thinking. A renewal of critical peace education that integrates the critiques of both decolonial and postcolonial perspectives will provide productive possibilities for revitalizing the transformative orientation within critical peace education and decolonizing the work of research and pedagogical praxis in peace education. This means to evoke discourses and practices that move away from the dominant categories of Eurocentric thought and engage explicitly with the ways in which understandings and pedagogies of peace education are implicated in modernity and coloniality.

Peace Process Pedagogy: lessons from the no-vote victory in the Colombian peace referendum

ABSTRACTIs there a need for a new field within Peace Education that looks at the complex dynamics of transitional societies in the post-truth era? What formal and informal pedagogical strategies might be best suited for transforming ‘emotional anti-peace mindsets’? Drawing on practical examples from the complex political contingencies in Colombia, this article positions the concept of Peace Process Pedagogy within discussions in Critical Peace Education and Critical Contemplative Pedagogy. It encourages critical pedagogues to develop strategies to dismantle misinformation about peace policies, to engage in open conversations about emotions, and to work with embodied action.

Border cosmopolitanism in critical peace education

This paper intends to contribute to recent developments in the theory of critical peace education. The role of cosmopolitanism in critical peace education is examined, particularly in relation to universal moral inclusion, secularism and universalism. It is then recommended that critical peace education draw from post-universalist and dialogical approaches to cosmopolitanism. Walter Mignolo’s border cosmopolitanism is suggested as a decolonising framework for critical peace education. This would entail the theory of critical peace education orienting itself towards the aim of reconsidering cosmopolitanism from the perspective of coloniality. Connections are drawn between border cosmopolitanism and Paulo Freire’s problem-posing education. The result is a vision for critical peace education to empower participants through centring personal and lived experience in critical deconstructions of cosmopolitan discourses.

Getting to “no”: Locating critical peace education within resistance and anti-oppression pedagogy at a Shi’a Islamic school in Lebanon

This paper critically engages observations from a school that was aligned with a resistance movement in Lebanon during a post-war period of sustained political violence (2006–2007). Focusing on the pedagogical practices at one community-centered and community-led Shi’a Islamic urban school, the paper draws on extensive ethnographic data to illustrate how teachers and students, together, negotiated resistance and peace learning through a critical and participatory process at a school whose curricular content, structure, and pedagogy explicitly addressed both direct and structural forms of violence. Drawing on rich, illustrative classroom data, I examine the production and enactment of peace knowledge as resistance to the status quo. This knowledge production does not exclude the performance of militarism and heroic resistance as forms of praxis, creating dissonance for understanding peace education as a field of scholarship and practice. This dissonance, I posit, is critical in forging possibilities for transformative change. The paper brings postcolonial theory into conversation with critical peace education to consider how larger structural, material, and political realities serve to mediate learning processes and value biases in peace research.

Kenyan girls as agents of peace: Enhancing the capacity of future women peacebuilders

The role of women in peacebuilding efforts has been recognized through various international instruments that have advanced the ability of women to access the peace table. In order for women to act as leaders, they must possess the capacity to disrupt structural, cultural, and direct forms of violence, engage in peacemaking activities, and employ prevention strategies for sustainable peace to be secured. This paper draws on qualitative research on a leadership program called Women of Integrity, Strength, and Hope (WISH) offered at the Daraja Academy, an all-girls boarding school in Kenya. The case study is situated within the larger global context of the women’s peace movement galvanized by the United Nations to highlight the potential role women may offer as peacebuilders. The WISH program engages Kenyan girls through critical peace education pedagogy to enhance capabilities required for future female architects of sustainable peace in Kenya and in the world.

Addressing Islamophobia Creatively in the Classroom

This paper explores Islamophobia and how it manifests in the form of hate speech and hate crimes. It examines how “othering” those from the Middle East and those who practice Islam has become normalized by journalists and government leaders to the extent that basic human rights are being restricted by this practice. The paper argues that the carefully engineered ‘war on terror’ is a government construction to justify the massacre of over one million Afghans, Iraqis and Pakistanis. Given the growing racism directed at all those from the Arab world, this paper puts forward suggestions on how Islamophobia can be deconstructed in the classroom using critical peace education and higher order learning. The paper concludes by suggesting some pedagogical approaches to enhance critical media skills and to encourage students to stand up against this pervasive racism.

‘Pedagogies of resistance’ and critical peace education praxis

This paper explores ‘pedagogies of resistance’ – or critical and democratic educational models utilized by social movements – and how global examples of engaged educational praxis may inform peace education. The central inquiry of this article is ‘How can educational projects that resist larger social, political and economic inequalities offer understandings about how we learn, teach, and act for peace in diverse settings?’ Drawing upon literature from various fields, ideas and insights are offered about how the field of peace education can better respond to multiple and diverse realities, particularly those facing marginalized communities. The article provides an overview of key tenets of peace education and ideas central to ‘critical peace education;’ offers a framing of ‘pedagogies of resistance;’ and, lastly, details what directions emerge by putting these two educational forms in conversation.

Toward a critical peace education for sustainability

This article proposes the need for peace education as a field to embrace critical power analysis of place in efforts toward social and environmental sustainability. Rather than status quo reproduction, a critical peace education for sustainability should both elucidate and transform the power dynamics inherent in structural violence and cultural violence. The inherent rights of people, plants, and ecosystems to live with dignity and to prosper are proposed. Practically speaking, the article offers perspectives from a critical pedagogy of place and an earth connections curriculum unit as vehicles for transformative education.

Peace education in the present: dismantling and reconstructing some fundamental theoretical premises

In this article, we sort through various fundamental premises about peace education to figure out how those premises operate to normalize particular meanings for peace, conflict, education, and other related concepts. We argue that peace education may often become part of the problem it tries to solve, if theoretical work is not used to interrogate the taken for granted assumptions about peace and peace education. For this purpose, we make explicit our own proposition of critical peace education through explicating the openings that are created by putting forward some alternative premises about peace, educational reform, and schooling. In particular, we put forward a proposition consisting of four elements aiming to reclaim criticality in peace education: reinstating the materiality of things and practices; reontologizing research and practice in peace education; becoming critical experts of design; and engaging in critical cultural analysis.

Harvesting Social Change: a peace education program in three acts

This article narrates the story of how a peace education program, over the course of a year, shifts from a more traditional form of peace education as conflict resolution skill building to a critical form of peace education. The path of this journey was neither straight nor direct; rather it meandered through an iteration of itself that actually produced another form of violence among its educators. Thus, in this one-case study, three different forms of peace education are observed – a traditional form, an ‘unpeaceable’ form, and a critical form. Building on Noddings’ notions of care, Freire’s notion of critical consciousness and Bajaj’s and Brantmeier’s complementing notions of a critical peace education, the author argues that it is not until the program identifies a space where youth and the facilitator can be vulnerable in meaningful dialog, that the program becomes critical. As the data from this activist research project show, it is in these dialogs that youth have the opportunity to make sense of the direct and structural violence inflicted on them and come to a critical consciousness that makes possible responsible social action.

Institutionalizing critical peace education in public schools: A case for comprehensive implementation

Drawing from critical theories in education, this article empirically examines the role that public schools can play as conduits for critical peace education, particularly for young people who have been historically marginalized from school. Based on two years of ethnographic data collection at a public high school in New York City, I explore how students make meaning of their educational experiences at a school that emphasizes democratic principles and a commitment to peace and social justice. The data suggest that students value the intentional participatory spaces and the thematic, inquiry-based curriculum in the school. Not only do these unique structures re-socialize them academically, but they also encourage democratic participation, reflection, critical consciousness, and a commitment to broader social change. This comprehensive approach, in turn, presumably gives students a platform from which to think about the world differently and imagine new alternatives for the future. As a result, the article concludes that there is potential in enacting critical peace education in public schools, and urges that in order to be most successful, several school structures must collectively support its dissemination.