Special Issue: Proceedings of the International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) — “Critical Pedagogy: Educating for Justice and Peace.”
Dale T. Snauwaert (Editor)

The current issue of In Factis Pax is comprised of thirteen articles (and one poem) that were originally presented at the International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE), at the University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel (July 28 - August 4, 2008).

The Institute was sponsored and organized by the following organizations and individuals:

PEACE EDUCATION CENTER, TEACHERS COLLEGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, GLOBAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATES
Tony Jenkins, IIPE Global Coordinator (Co-Director, PEC; Program Coordinator, GEA)
Janet Gerson, IIPE Education Director (Co-Director, Peace Education Center)
Marielle Amhrein, PEC Intern
Sarah Bou Ajram, GEA Intern
Luellen Kazan, GEA Intern
Kinneret Kohn, PEC/GEA Volunteer
UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA: JEWISH-ARAB CENTER
Faisal Azaiza, JAC Director
Patrick Maestracci, JAC Adminstrator
Nurit Gadir, JAC Administrative Coordinator
Rimah Farah, JAC Assistant
Emily Singer, JAC Intern
Marguy Ansher, School of Social Work
CENTER OF CRITICAL PEDAGOGY, KIBBUTZIM COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Haggith Gor Ziv, Co-Director
Galia Zalmonson Levi, Co-Director
Gal Harmat, Co-Director
Natali Gidens, Intern
UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA: CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON PEACE EDUCATION
Gavriel Solomon, Co-Director

The theme of IIPE 2008 was “Critical Pedagogy: Educating for Justice and Peace.” The focus of the discourse centered on the nature and practice of dialogical education for social change and the interrelationship between peace education and critical pedagogy. The core inquiry examined education for a culture of peace interconnected with the dynamics and imperatives of social transformation. The articles published in this issue instantiate and develop this inquiry.

This issue is logically divided into three main areas: the theory of critical pedagogy and peace education, its practice, and its theorizing and implementation in regional contexts, including the issues of conflict resolution, sex trafficking, nuclear proliferation, and political and cross-cultural understanding in Israel, Palestine, the Middle East in general, Ireland, and Nigeria.

Regarding the theory of critical pedagogy and peace education, in his article, The International Institute on Peace Education: Twenty-six Years Modeling Critical, Participatory Peace Pedagogy, Tony Jenkins articulates the philosophy of IIPE as a unique form of critical peace pedagogy. In Persistence of Vision: Hegemony and Counter-hegemony in the Everyday, Robert E. Bahruth explores “persistence of vision,” the capacity to perceive a continuous flow of movement, as integral to resisting conformity to the pressures of hegemony. In Hans-Peter Dürr’s Thought as a Source for Peace Work, Francesco Pistolato articulates a holistic epistemology and world-view based upon the physicist Peter Dürr’s interpretation of quantum physics and its implications for the theory and practice of peace education.

The next three articles articulate various pedagogical approaches to peace education. In Popoki, What Color is Peace? Exploring critical approaches to thinking, imagining and expressing peace with the cat, Popoki, Ronni Alexander explores the Popoki Peace Project as a dynamic socially relational educational approach intended to negate all forms of violence, as well as cultivating the imagination and creation of peaceful expression. Stan F. Steiner, in Teaching About Peace Through Children’s Literature, articulates and demonstrates approaches to the use of literature to teach children about peace and related social justice issues, including cross-cultural understanding. In her article, The UNESCO Schools Cooperation Network Health Education Programme, Nicoletta Mantziara presents and analyzes the implementation of the UNESCO schools cooperation network health education programme as an approach to human rights education.

Within the regional context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Udi Adiv, in his article Political Pedagogy Vs Coexistance Education: The Case of Israel\Palestine, analyzes the Israeli education system as a case study for examining and suggesting political perspectives of education. He examines the implications of the radical political approach vs. the critical and coexistence education, as challenges to the ideology of Zionist. He argues for the value of the political idea of republicanism. David Netzer in Painful Past in the Service of Israeli Jewish-Arab Dialogue: The Work of the Center for Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters House in Israel demonstrates the fundamental importance of narrative-based dialogue and the personalization of identities as a process of psychological and social healing between Israeli Jews and Arabs.

In her article Youth Initiatives in Conflict Zones: Focus Northern Ireland Fran Russell Banks analyzes the role of Youth Work in the conflict zone of Northern Ireland. She provides an overview of the historical relationship between the jurisdictions and discusses the origins and processes of youth work development within the conflict zone. She demonstrates the fundamental importance of Youth Work as form of peace education.
In Peace Education in Marginalized Communities in Nigeria: The ‘Protect Our Future’ Project Imoh Colins Edozie explores the conflict in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria and the effect of the ‘Protect our Future’ Project, a peace education initiative, in reducing conflict in Nigeria.

In Thailand’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act B.E. 2551 (2008): A New Development in Human Rights Protection and Justice Son Ninsri offers a comparative analysis of anti-trafficking in persons legislation in Thailand. He offers a critical analysis of the evolution of legal action against human trafficking as a key human rights issue.

In her important article on nonproliferation, Weapons of Mass Destruction: Challenges Towards Nonproliferation in the Middle East, Nilsu Goren develops a fundamental understanding of the theoretical background of nonproliferation; as well as defining the role of culture in shaping security culture and thus approaches to nonproliferation. She argues that nonproliferation regimes are faced, acutely in the Middle East, with significant political, economic, cultural and strategic challenges that need to be addressed through regional and global security arrangements.

Lastly, Rinah Sheleff captures the spirit of IIPE 2008 in poetic form in her poem The Origins of Critical Pedagogy, or the Freirization of Paolo.

This special issue creates the beginning of a historical scholarly record of IIPE as well as making its rich discourse available to the general public and academic community. We invite you to contemplate the rich reflections of the authors and to engage with us in further dialogue. Comments on the Blog section of this site are invited.