Peace Pedagogies in a Divided Society
From local to global perspectives
This lecture aims to illustrate different modalities of teaching, curriculum, educational partnerships and pedagogies within the fields of comparative, intercultural and peace education, which comprise the collection of interdisciplinary perspectives on educating for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina recently published in a co-edited book volume Peace Pedagogies in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Theory and Practice in Formal Education (Kasumagic-Kafedzic, L. & Clarke- Habibi, S., Editors, Springer, 2023). The book explores a range of theories, contexts, pedagogies and practices within formal education settings and draws attention to the multiple roles that educators and education institutions play in fostering socially transformative learning.
The lecture will invite for a critical exploration of peace pedagogies within the post-war educational politics and divided societies, institutional and curricular constraints, and the lived experiences and identities of teachers and students in socially and historically situated communities. Insights and recommendations on how peace pedagogies can be systematically integrated at all levels of the education system taking into account the structural uniqueness of the contexts will be explored. The lecture reflections will invite for connections to the global challenges faced by educational institutions of today in the context of raging conflicts, deep social fragmentations, political divisions, marginalization of humanities, technocratic approaches to learning and teaching, and the rise of ethnonationalist politics where the “third mission” of education institutions to remain dedicated to peace, humanity and solidarity still poses a big challenge.
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About the Speakers
- Professor Larisa Kasumagić- Kafedžić was a 2003-04 Cornell University Hubert Humphrey Fellow Alumni and a 2022-23 Cornell University Fulbright Visiting Scholar Alumni. For the past 25 years, Larisa has been actively involved in peaceful actions, community youth development programs, the philosophy of nonviolence, teacher development, and intercultural pedagogy in language education. She is an associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Sarajevo. Her research interests are intercultural education, peace pedagogy, language education, teacher training, reflective pedagogies, and action research in teacher development. She is also the founder and a president of the Peace Education Hub. Her latest co-edited book volume Peace Pedagogies in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Theory and Practice in Formal Education (Springer, 2023) focuses on the importance of institutionalizing peace pedagogy in formal education and teacher training in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- Dr. Sara Clarke-Habibi has worked in the field of peacebuilding through education for over 20 years as a practitioner, researcher, curriculum developer, and trainer. She currently works in the Division for Peace at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in Geneva. Her research and teaching explore peacebuilding in relation to collective memory, trauma and healing; educational policy, curricula and textbooks; teacher education, identity and agency; formal and nonformal educational practices; and the role of youth as critical peace actors. She has published scientific articles and professional manuals on topics of intercultural dialogue and peacebuilding; peace psychology and trauma-sensitivity; dealing with the past and intergroup reconciliation. Her co-edited volume on Peace Pedagogies in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Theory and Practice in Formal Education was published by Springer in 2023.