Peacebuilding Citizenship And Identity

As communities around the world continue to attract international immigrants, schools have become centers for learning how to engage with people’s multiple ethnic and cultural origins. Ethnocultural minority immigrant students carry diverse histories and perspectives—which can serve as resources for critical reflection about social conflicts. These students’ identities need to be included in the curriculum so that diversity and conflictual issues can be openly discussed. Immigrant children embody the many issues confronting today’s youth in a global, transnational, and interconnected world. Drawing on in-depth empirical case studies, this book explores the classroom experiences of these children. Varying in social and cultural capital, they contend with social and cultural conflict influenced not only by global politics and familial prejudices, but also by structural exclusion in Western curricula. In democratic peacebuilding education, diverse students express divergent points of view in open, inclusive dialogue. Negotiating their multiple identities, such children develop skills for managing and responding to that conflict, thereby acquiring tools to challenge dominant hegemonic systems of oppression and control later in life. In vivid classroom depictions, the reader learns of many outcomes: Young, quiet, and marginalized voices were heard. Dialogic pedagogies encouraged cooperation among students and strengthened class communities. What is more, the implicit and explicit curricula implemented in these diverse classrooms served to shape how students interpreted democracy in multicultural Canada. The diverse experiences of the young people and teachers in this book illuminate the innermost landscapes of multicultural classrooms, providing deep insight into the social and cultural challenges and opportunities that ethnocultural minority children experience at school.

This book provides an introduction to themes within citizenship and identity. The authors draw together debates in sociology, political theory and cultural/gender studies to show how the civil, political and social meanings of citizenship have been redefined by postmodernization and globalization.

Civil conflicts in Africa range from few interstate wars to several intrastate conflicts characterized by secessionist movements, irredentism, coups and counter coups, genocide, wars of liberation to resource-based wars. The varied causes of conflicts in the continent's diverse and complex social formations are seen in ethnic terms and include struggles for economic/environmental resources, poor institutions of governance and issues of identity such as religion, language and racial differences. The core issue addressed in this volume is how to understand and explain the structural and analytical reasons for persistent civil conflicts in Africa. The core assumption is that most civil conflicts in Africa erupt largely because of the nature of state formation in the continent. Other significant variables that are explored as explanations for the persistent instances of civil conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa and the slow efforts at nation-building across the continent include issues of territoriality, climate change, ethnicity, ideological incongruities, institutional problems, the nature of postcolonial state, unreformed governance and economic structures, and corruption.This book also examines some sources of unresolved issues of territoriality and explains their connections to political violence and socio-political and cultural tensions across sub-Saharan Africa. It offers suggestions on how scholarly research and policies could help mediate if not mitigate future territorially-based conflicts in Africa.

This book presents the case that liberal constitutionalism in the global South is a legacy of colonialism and is inappropriate as a means of securing effective peace in regions that have been subject to recurrent conflict. The work demonstrates the failure of liberal constitutionalism in guaranteeing peace in the postcolonial global South. It develops an alternative, more compelling constitutionalism for peacebuilding in conflicted regions. This is based on constitutionalism that recognises plurality as a major feature in the global South. Drawing on events in Nigeria, it develops a constitutional model, based on Cognitive Justice, which could deliver peace by addressing historic, conceptual, legal, institutional and structural issues that have created social inequality and injustice. The study also incorporates insights from the development of plurinational constitutions in South America. The book will be an invaluable resource for researchers, academics and policy-makers with an interest in constitutional legal theory, peacebuilding and postcolonial studies

Papers presented at the Conference on Citizenship and Governance : Issues of Identity, Inclusion and Voice, held at Delhi in February 2003.

First published in 2004 , this work is based on a collaborative research project, this trilogy considers the dynamics of demilitarisation and peace-building in southern Africa in the aftermath of major violent conflicts. The overall aim of the research is to support and facilitate the achievement of sustainable peace and human development in southern Africa, by analysing demilitarisation and peace-building processes in the region and identifying policy options and interventions for peace-building. The central focus of the research is the extent to which demilitarisation following the termination of wars has contributed to broad processes of peace-building in the affected region. Has the military in southern Africa downsized and refocused towards new roles? Has there been a 'peace-dividend', allowing more investment in economic and human development, thereby dealing with some of the root causes of conflict? Volume I provides a conceptual framework for the analysis of demilitarisation and peace-building processes, applicable particularly in the southern Africa context. This volume argues that a broad concept of peace-building has to take into account economic, political, social and cultural factors, at the local, national and regional level.

A timely and insightful exploration of the vital relationships among effective communication, education, peace, and democracy Communication and Education: Promoting Peace and Democracy in Times of Crisis and Conflict explores the complexities of addressing divisive societal challenges, reducing conflicts, and building and sustaining peace and democracy around the world. Contributions by an international panel of experts provide evidence-based practices, findings from ongoing research projects, policy analyses, and cutting-edge theories, frameworks, and models for confronting global challenges to peace and democracy. Examining the crucial role of crisis communication and education on a global scale, this research-based compendium covers a broad range of key topics, such as democratizing education, promoting peace through complexity science, understanding how factionalism threatens democracy, encouraging citizen participation, and more. Throughout the text, the authors highlight the need for equity, compassion, critical thinking, and active engagement to create a sustainable future based on democratic values. Designed to enhance the knowledge base of crisis communication related to crises impacting education, peace, and democracy, Communication and Education: Explores different strategies and practices for fostering democracy in education, such as the IDEALS framework for creating positive school cultures Discusses emotional geographies in schools and their impact on democratic school climate and teacher burnout Emphasizes empathic communication and participatory skills among teachers Offers practical strategies and examples of harnessing technology for peace and democracy Provides real-world case studies illustrating the transformative power of education, music, diverse perspectives, and open communication channels Examines the ecological interdependence of effective communication, education, democracy and peace Part of the Wiley Blackwell Communicating Science in Times of Crisis series, Communication and Education: Promoting Peace and Democracy in Times of Crisis and Conflict is essential reading for communication and education scholars, researchers, students, practitioners, and community scientists.