A Calm After the Storm? Beyond Schooling as Violence

Abstract

Media coverage of schooling around the world from the US and the UK to South Africa convey images of violence. Many academic texts confirm the seriousness and prevalence of violence in schools. An obvious conclusion to be drawn is that schools, far from being peaceful and safe places of learning are sites of violence. Some views go so far as to suggest that schools actually produce violence. The theme of this special issue--schooling as violence--picks up on this view. In this article I shall discuss and interrogate various definitions of violence in order to get some sense of what violence is understood to be, who is (and is not) affected, and how seriously. I will be arguing that violence is best understood using a gender perspective. A gendered analysis allows an examination of violence in terms beyond victim and perpetrator. It allows one to get inside violence, to see how people are implicated. Finally, I will critique discourses of violence and argue that they actually stand in the way of successful engagement. In order successfully to work for peace we need to use understandings of violence which are not moralistic and prescriptive and which grapple with the continued existence of social inequalities.