|
Summary of CIES Peace
Education SIG Activities
By Dr. Monisha Bajaj,
SIG Chair (Peace Education)
The
Peace Education Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Comparative &
International Education Society (CIES) is in its third year, with its
main activities being sponsoring panels at the CIES conferences and
maintaining an active network for collaboration and opportunities for
members.
The
Peace Education SIG currently has 50 dues-paying members and over 100
members on its email distribution list. In line with the larger
conference theme of the 2008 CIES conference ‘Gaining Educational Equity
around the World,’ the SIG chose the theme of ‘Towards Equity and Social
Justice: Research and Practice in Peace Education.’
At the
CIES meetings held at Teachers College, Columbia University in March
2008, three official panels were held on different dimensions of the
aforementioned theme, including peace education in practice, peace
education as part of teacher education, and global perspectives on peace
education. Specific papers included discussions of peace education in
the following contexts: refugee camps in Eastern Africa, high schools in
Turkey, non-formal arts programs in Cambodia, NGOs collaborating in
Israel-Palestine, universities in Latin America, and juvenile detention
centers in the United States.
The third sponsored panel
profiled global perspectives on peace education and highlighted some of
the most well-known scholars in the field.
-
Yaacov
Iram is Professor of Comparative and
International Education at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He is
currently the UNESCO Chair holder of the Dr. Josef Burg Chair in
Education for Human Values, Tolerance and Peace. He has written
extensively about peace education and discussed on the panel a new
project he coordinates between Palestinian and Israeli groups to build a
culture of peace.
-
Yolanda Africa discussed the
Development of a Peace Education Program for the Languages and
Literature Department of De La Salle Lipa University that promotes
greater peace between ethnic/religious groups in the Philippines and
raises greater awareness among students about economic inequalities.
-
Magnus Haavelsrud, professor at the University of
Trondheim in Norway, was a
founding member of the Peace Education Commission of the International
Peace Research Association. He has published extensively on, and
discussed in his presentation, the theoretical underpinnings of the
form, structure and content of peace education.
-
Alicia
Cabezudo is a professor at the University of Rosario in Argentina and at
the University of Peace in Costa Rica. She discussed the history and
emergence of human rights education in Latin America and regional
efforts towards peace learning and greater democratization.
-
Discussant
Jeannie Lum of the University of Hawaii and the editor of the Journal
of Peace Education tied the papers together and posed excellent
questions to the panelists to guide discussion of the highlighted
themes.
This third panel – “Global Perspectives on Peace Education” – is
available on Teachers College Itunes by going to
www.itunes.tc.columbia.edu. Once directed to
Itunes, click on “International & Transcultural Studies” and then
“Conference 2008: Peace Education SIG”. The entire panel is available
for download.
The SIG
events also included a business luncheon where members discussed their
work, announced upcoming conferences and publications, and held a
discussion about enhancing the work of the SIG. For more information
about the Peace Education SIG or to be added to the email list, please
contact Monisha Bajaj [bajaj@tc.edu].
A well attended panel on
global issues in peace education.
Panelists Alicia Cabezudo
(University of Rosario, Argentina), Yolanda Africa (De La Salle Lipa
University, Philippines) and Yaacov Iram (Bar Ilan University, Israel).
SIG chair, Monisha Bajaj
(Teachers College, Columbia University) with Panelist, Yolanda Africa
(De La Salle Lipa University, Philippines). |
