Monisha Bajaj

The Politics, Praxis, and Possibilities of Critical Peace Education

Critical approaches offer peace educators and researchers the contextual and conceptual resources to understand the structural impediments to advancing peace education in diverse locales across the globe. Rather than status quo reproduction, critical approaches in peace education and peace research aim to empower learners as transformative change agents (Freire 1970) who critically analyze power dynamics and intersectionalities among race, class, gender, ability/disability, sexual orientation, language, religion, geography, and other forms of stratification. In this spirit, the seeds for this special issue were sown in 2009 at the Malaviya Centre for Peace Research in Varanasi, India, where the co-editors first discussed the possibility of collaborating on a project related to critical peace education. Our own work in teacher education (Brantmeier 2007; 2010; 2011) and international education (Bajaj 2008; 2009; 2010) respectively has highlighted the role of critical theory in peace education research, namely developing empirical projects that – through design, implementation, and presentation – seek to stand in ‘solidarity with a justice-oriented community, expos[ing] the forces that prevent individuals and groups from shaping the decisions that crucially affect their lives’ (Denzin and Lincoln 2000, 282). Central to these projects, then, is a dynamic and relational understanding of the role of human agency in influencing structural forms of violence that limit the full realization of human rights by all people(s). After issuing a call for proposals for this special issue in early 2010 and receiving dozens of submissions, several questions came to light: Is all peace education by its very nature ‘critical’? If not, what distinguishes ‘critical’ peace education from ‘regular’ peace education? What benefit might accrue from applying a critical lens to issues of peace and education? Through the articles in this issue, we hope to gain more clarity on the charge for peace education we make through the emphasis on critical peace education here. In this special issue, we resist the forces promoting regulation, universalization, and development of rigid normative standards for what peace education ought to be. Instead, we argue that contextualized forms of peace education are those that are engaged in constant and meaningful conversation with other fields and traditions of critical inquiry. Rooted in similar commitments to more just and equitable societies, such counter-positioning can steer peace education to be more flexible, responsive, and relevant in discussions of educational policy, teacher education, and

‘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.

Intergenerational Perspectives on Education and Employment in the Zambian Copperbelt

This paper explores inter-generational perspectives on the education-employment link as reported by parents, teachers, administrators, and students in and around government secondary schools in Ndola, Zambia. The data presented are drawn from a larger research project conducted in 2003-2004 that included surveys, observations, student diaries, focus groups, and interviews with participants. Data are presented against the backdrop of Zambias implementation of neoliberal economic policies, beginning in the mid-1980s, which characterized a significant shift from previously subsidized social services to a more market oriented economy. A vertical case study approach (Bartlett & Vavrus 2009) is utilized to elucidate the missing link between educational and labor market opportunities for secondary school students and graduates. Declining educational quality, overcrowded facilities, and corruption in schools also offer implicit commentary on the shrinking budget for education and the higher opportunity costs for secondary school participation attendant to Zambias particular incorporation into the world market.

Conjectures on Peace Education and Gandhian Studies: Method, Institutional Development, and Globalization

This article examines the similarities and differences of the fields of Gandhian studies and peace education through an exploration of their content, institutional development, and globalization since the mid‐twentieth century. The methods utilized include document review of syllabi and course descriptions in Gandhian studies and peace education, as well as interviews with individuals involved in both fields. Through an examination of the history, emergence and core concepts in each field, this article argues that both fields have the potential to offer each other important lessons based in their own unique trajectories. Specifically, it was found that educational movements, and structural analyses of power and inequality that are often integral to them, in the global South can inform peace education by diversifying the voices deemed canonical in the field. Similarly, Gandhian studies, in responding to the unique dilemma of expanding resources and institutionalization amidst decreasing student demand, may do well to broaden its foci and further integrate contemporary social issues related to peace and social justice.

Critical Transnational Curriculum for Immigrant and Refugee Students.

ABSTRACT This article explores the curricular approaches of three public high schools in the US that serve newly arrived immigrant and refugee youth, in order to define and illustrate a critical transnational curriculum. Drawing from qualitative research over the past 10 years at the different school sites, the authors posit four tenets of a critical transnational curriculum with examples of specific school practices: (1) using diversity as a learning opportunity; (2) engaging translanguaging; (3) promoting civic engagement as curriculum; and (4) cultivating multidirectional aspirations. A curriculum that responds to students’ needs and realities as migrants, workers, and students offers not only cultural and socio-political relevance, but also recognizes the transnational lives and trajectories of immigrant and refugee youth.

Engendering Agency: The Differentiated Impact of Educational Initiatives in Zambia and India

Efforts to interrupt the reproduction of unequal gender relations in schools involve alternative practices and pedagogies intended to transform students’ notions of gender and gender relations. Beyond the protective environments where such educational initiatives take shape, however, students must rely on their own sense of agency to reenact newly developed gender roles, behaviors, and understandings. This article examines how human agency is differentially experienced and acted upon by boy and girl students responding to educational nongovernmental initiatives in Zambia and India. Two case studies are reviewed, offering evidence from participants in educational programs that seek to deliberately disrupt gender inequality, revealing distinct ways in which boys and girls respond to such efforts. It is argued that structural inequalities tend to privilege boys and enable them to experience more “transformative agency” and efficacy when asserting new understandings of gender and gender relations.

After the Smoke Clears: Toward Education for Sustainable Development in Bhopal, India

This article examines approaches to environmental education in Bhopal, India. It is an attempt to understand how much environmental education as a topic has been incorporated into formal curricula. An analysis of state and national syllabi indicates a focus on conventional, natural sciences approaches to the environment, thus neglecting the social science aspects of education for sustainable development across all grade levels. Environmental disasters are given a very general treatment with no contextual link to incidents like the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984. Social dimensions like environmental citizenship are also minimally mentioned. Finally, the article highlights the large gap between national educational policy frameworks and the actual incorporation of environmental education in state and national textbooks.

Human Rights Education in Small Schools in India

In the past three decades, the rise of human rights education (HRE) in global educational policy discourse and practice has paralleled the unrelated rise of small, independently run schools internationally that operate separately from government structures, whether they be private, charter, religious, or affiliated with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This essay examines the intersection of these two phenomena — small schools and human rights education — in India to understand better how the praxis of human rights is infused into schools in distinct ways based on the ideology of the respective school’s founders, donors, teachers, and families.

Why Context Matters: Understanding the Material Conditions of School-Based Caring in Zambia.

This study utilized in‐depth interviewing, participant observation, and student diaries completed by participants to examine the quality of teacher–student relationships at a low‐cost private school in the townships of Ndola, Zambia. Amidst economic decline and the HIV/AIDS epidemic facing Zambia today, teachers and students developed strong relationships that differed from those found in government secondary schools and were shaped by the economic and social realities in the larger society. These caring relationships were facilitated by official school policy, deliberative spaces created for caring such as longer school hours and smaller class sizes, and strict oversight of teachers by the school administration. Teachers’ efforts to provide students advice and resources related to the economic and health crises affecting their community resulted in the development of caring relationships that students noted were unique given their experiences in and exposure to government secondary schools. The findings of this study suggest that scholars of caring in the US and internationally should consider the material conditions of both students’ and teachers’ lives beyond the school environment in order to understand how caring relationships are structured, limited, and enabled in distinct moments by larger socioeconomic and political realities.

The right to education in protracted conflict: teachers’ experiences in non-formal education in Colombia

ABSTRACT The challenges of ensuring the right to education are numerous, especially when working with marginalised populations in fragile contexts. Despite having the legislation, strong constitutional support, and even educational innovations designed to guarantee the right to education, a major gap exists in Colombia between political intentions and the reality in flexible non-formal educational models designed for children affected by conflict. This article highlights the experiences of teachers working in this context amidst limitations in the programme design and, often, inadequate training and support. This article explores the prospects of and challenges to guaranteeing the right to education amidst fragility.