In Factis Pax is a peer-reviewed online journal of peace education and social justice dedicated to the examination of issues central to the formation of a peaceful society - the prevention of violence, political challenges to peace and democratic societies.
Social justice, democracy, and human flourishing are the core factors which highlight the importance of the role of education in building peaceful societies. We invite articles and book reviews on topics related to these central issues.
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Current Issue
Volume 2, Number 1, 2008
Content:
Special Issue on The Earth Charter
Essays on Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine
Book Review of The Encyclopedia of Peace Education
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Special Issue on The Earth Charter
Education for Sustainable Development based on the Earth Charter
By Abelardo Brenes, Ph.D.
Abstract
This article maintains that the United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development offers a critically needed opportunity for a worldwide educational and cultural movement that can harness the wonderful qualities of humans to meet our challenges and fulfil our evolutionary potential, which if achieved will manifest an integral way of living peacefully, in three fundamental dimensions: persons living peacefully and sustainably as members of the web and community of Cosmos, Earth and Life; with one another as equal members of the human community; and on the personal level, as a self-appreciative and self-directed personal evolutionary unfoldment. The Earth Charter is an international document that is now a core instrument of the United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development. It provides a framework that contributes key elements for an educational philosophy and pedagogy adequate to fulfil these tasks.
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The Earth Charter: Peace Education and Values for a Shared World
By Karen Huggins and Kevin Kester
Abstract
This paper explores the Earth Charter and the interconnectedness of all forms of life, the multiple values and dimensions through which peace is constructed, and the responsibility of today’s generations to preserve and nurture Earth’s living systems for future generations. Violence, apathy, and silent complicity are explored through reflection on the ethics that underscore peace, democracy, justice, and sustainability. One must learn to reconnect respect for non-human life to a re-humanization of the Other and care for succeeding generations. The Earth Charter outlines a framework of planetary ethics and actions for values in a world of understanding, collaboration, and environmental stewardship. During the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), this essay posits the Earth Charter operates as a normative document for integrating values of sustainability into education. The authors present a lesson plan in the final pages of the article as a model for implementing the Earth Charter into curriculum.
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The Earth Charter, a Radical Document: A Pedagogical Response.
by Sean Blenkinsop and Chris Beeman
Abstract
In this paper we argue that because the Earth Charter is a radical document educative responses to it must be similarly radical. Building out of previous work, we offer practitioners six pedagogical tools which, as we argue below, align themselves to the ideas and spirit of the Charter and can act to assist existing educational practices become more ecological in orientation. The obvious premise in this discussion is that the change implied in the Earth Charter requires more than minor tinkering with education and that educators need immediately implementable tools that can begin the process of changing the larger “dominant pattern” (Earth Charter). In summary, this paper will investigate the alignment of the Earth Charter with a series of pedagogical tools thereby offering educators a concrete means to begin the process of radical change.
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The Cosmopolitan Ethics of the Earth Charter:
A Framework for a Pedagogy of Peace
By Dale T. Snauwaert
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to philosophically explore the Earth Charter as a cosmopolitan ethical framework for a pedagogy of peace. The Earth Charter constitutes a powerful articulation of a framework of cosmopolitan ethical principles for a just, peaceful, and ecologically sustainable society. This paper articulates the cosmopolitan ethics of the Earth Charter and as well as exploring it’s potential as a foundation for a pedagogy of peace. The paper will focus on the definition of peace articulated in Principle 16f of the Charter: “Recognize that peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part.” This conception of peace serves as the organizing framework for the articulation of the cosmopolitan ethic and corresponding pedagogical framework. It is argued that the ethical principles of The Earth Charter provide a framework for a corresponding pedagogy of peace as right relationships.
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Essays on Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine
A Pedagogy of Alternatives: A Peace Education Comment on Mark Webb’s “Letter to Naomi Klein”
By Betty A. Reardon
A Letter to Naomi Klein
By Mark Porter Webb
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Book Review — The Encyclopedia of Peace Education (edited by Monisha Baja)
By Hakim Williams
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Archive: Past Issues
Volume 1 Number 2, 2007
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Exploring Our Perceptual Limitation by Lyudmila Bryzzheva
Abstract
It is easy to hurt others when they stand barely visible. The difficulty of seeing another person clearly is treated here as “perceptual limitation,” and it is partially1 responsible for poor perception of others. Through personal introspection, and anecdotal evidence from teaching practice and daily encounters the author explores this curable while recurrent condition and suggests a number of practical ways of minimizing it.
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The Preparation of Pre-Service Teachers for a Culture of Dignity and Peace by Melodie Wilson and Yvette Daniel
Abstract
This paper argues that since schools are considered spaces for critical transformation and teachers play a vital role in creating conditions where students can become loving, caring members of society, peace education should be made explicit in teacher education. It asserts that the teacher education culture in Ontario is keen and positioned for this endeavour to take place despite implicit and marginalized peace education content and practices. It continues by suggesting how a move to prepare teacher candidates with education for and about peace through the magnifying of current implicit peace practices may strengthen the overall momentum of producing just societies, thereby, building human dignity. Drawing from findings derived from a small-scale study, three implications for teacher education are given: teacher education must recognize the proclivity of teacher candidates for partnership pedagogy; create space for sharing experiences; and expose teacher candidates to peace education knowledge. Six recommendations are provided for increasing possibilities for peaceful and equitable social pathways. The overarching purpose is to stimulate further discussion and networking among Ministry of Education in Ontario and faculties of education by advocating how peace education aligns with the goals inherent in their own philosophies and those of the global peace agenda.
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Connecting Inner and Outer Peace: Buddhist Meditation Integrated with Peace Education by Edward J. Brantmeier
Abstract
This article describes major types of Buddhist meditation and elucidates the connections among Buddhist meditative practices and a missing dimension of contemporary peace education—the cultivation of inner peace. In laying the groundwork for integrating aspects of Buddhist meditation within peace education efforts, definitions of peace education are critiqued. The specific techniques of loving-kindness mediation and emptiness meditation are explored through the eyes of scholars of Buddhism and through the eyes of the author who has been a student of Buddhism for twelve years. Rooting insight into the radical interconnectedness of all life in Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions, the author reiterates the power of this insight in regards to transforming individual dispositions and actions for nonviolent social change. The secularization of Buddhist and other contemplative practices for use in U.S. public schools is problemitized given the history of the separation of church and state in the United States.
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Archive
Volume 1 Number 1, May, 2007
Special Issue: What is the Relationship Between Knowledge and Peace?
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Editorial Introduction by Fuad Al-Dwareesh
Words Matter: Exposing the Camouflaged Violence of Hunting Rhetoric by Heidi A. Huse, Ph.D
Nonviolence as a Way of Knowing in the Public School Classroom by Anya Jacobson
A Book Review of “Avengers of the New World” by Monisha Bajaj, Ed.D
A Book Review of “Ethical Visions of Education: Philosophies In Practice” by Dale Snauwaert, Ph.D
