Abstract
Peace and conflict studies (PACS) education has grown significantly in the last 30 years, mainly in Higher Education. This article critically analyzes the ways in which this field might be subject to poststructural critique, and posits Bourdieusian second-order reflexivity as a means of responding to these critiques. We propose here that theory-building within PACS education is often limited by the dominance of Galtung and Freire, and that, while the foundational ideas of positive and negative peace, structural and cultural violence, conscientization, reflexivity and critical pedagogy are still relevant today, they nevertheless need to be combined in new ways with each other, and with Bourdieu’s notions of habitus and field, to adequately respond to poststructural critique. Thus, we call here for greater field-based reflexivity in twenty-first century PACS.
Notes
1. By ‘positivism’, the authors mean education that is isolated to the individual (not interactional), static and defined (not contextualized) and task-oriented toward measureable transmissions based on Western paradigms (Zembylas & Bekerman, Citation2013, p. 210).
2. Multiple studies have been conducted concerning the impact of peace education (cf. Bickmore, Citation2002; Churchill & Omari, Citation1981; Danesh, Citation2008; Felice, Karako, & Wisler, Citation2015Feuerverger, Citation2001; Johnson & Johnson, Citation1996; Kester, Citation2013; Maoz, Citation2001; Nevo & Brem, Citation2002). Based on varied positivist and/or critical epistemologies, these studies have produced mixed findings concerning the effectiveness of peace education programs.
3. Others that we don’t detail here include dynamical systems theory in PACS (Coleman & Deutsch, Citation2001; Vollacher, Coleman, Nowak, & Bui-Wrzosinska, Citation2010), elicitive peace (Lederach, Citation1995), protracted social conflict management (Azar, Citation1990), and post-liberal peace (Richmond, Citation2011), among others. Though these traditions come from varied disciplines/fields there is typically a common blend of ethico-philosophic underpinning, pragmatic conflict analysis, and pedagogic approach throughout each of them.
4. See Brantmeier’s (Citation2013) proposition that ‘critical peace education for sustainability’ might be accessed through ‘a simple equation: situated power analysis + engaged change = vibrant, sustainable peace’ (p. 244).
6. This definition is an evolution on earlier definitions of structural violence by Galtung (Citation1969) and Paul Farmer (Citation2005). Farmer’s definition is important as it integrates human agency as a crucial factor into Galtung’s concept. So too is the aspect of human agency integral to our definition of ‘poststructural violence’.
7. A Google Scholar search on 22 January, 2017, revealed that Galtung’s Citation1969 article had been cited 4,112 times.
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