Peace Education

On the Influence of Education on Conflict Perception and Transformation

(research project funded by the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Foundation, 2012–2015)
 

‘Students trust education. If they are taught that killing people is a good thing, they believe it. If they are taught that killing people is a bad thing, they believe it […] education plays a critical role, because today’s youth are the ones who will build and lead the country in the future. We must therefore educate them to become peace agents.’ (quote by a school principle in Burundi, cited in Ndura-Ouédraogo 2009: 44).

As this interview excerpt highlights, education is a key to transformation in conflicts. One aspect that is particularly significant here is the social constructs that are relevant to the conflict. In this context, peace education aims to change individuals’ ways of viewing these (instrumentalized) constructs in order to enable positive peace. This process of changing perceptions is at the heart of this project, which is investigating to what extent the perception of individuals that is shaped by conflict can be reconstructed through education. The project is based on qualitative and comparative research involving three different contexts in the Global North and South.

Project heads: Dr. Philipp Rodrian and Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Zademach
Project member: Niko Fricke, MSc
  

Publikationen:

Fricke, Nikolas und Hans-Martin Zademach (2016): Frieden schaffen, wo kein Frieden ist, Nachhaltigkeitsbericht 2017/18. Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, pp. 22-23

Fricke, Nikolas; Rodrian, Philipp and Hans-Martin Zademach (2016): Potentiale und Grenzen umweltbasierter Konflikttransformation: Erkenntnisse aus dem Arava Institute for Enviromental Studis in Israel, Geographica Helvetica 71 (2), pp. 109-120

Rodrian Philipp; Fricke, Nikolas; Zademach, Hans-Martin (2015): Großschutzgebiete als Instrument der Konflikttransformation: Betrachtungen im Licht der Leace Ecology. In: Erdmann, Karl-Heinz; Bork, Hans-Rudolf; Job, Hubert (eds.): Naturschutz in geographischer Perspektive. Bonn: Bundesamt für Naturschutz, pp. 123-136 (=BfN-Skripten 400)