Mische, Patricia M.

English

College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University: DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU

The Journal of Social Encounters Volume 6 Issue 2 Peace Bishops: Case Studies of Christian Bishops as Peacebuilders Article 23 2022 Review of Education in developments: Volume 3 Patricia M. Mische Co-founder, former president, Global Education Associates Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/social_encounters  Part of the Education Policy Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social Justice Commons, and the Social Policy Commons Recommended Citation Mische, Patricia M. (2022) "Review of Education in developments: Volume 3," The Journal of Social Encounters: Vol. 6: Iss. 2, 167-169. Available at: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/social_encounters/vol6/iss2/23 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Journal of Social Encounters by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@csbsju.edu. The Journal of Social Encounters 167  Education in developments: Volume 3. Magnus Haavelsrud. Oslo: Arena, 2020, paper, 196 pp. ISBN-13: 9788291040097; Kindle Direct Publishing, 2020. ISBN9788291040103; E-Book, 2020. ISBN: 978-82-91040-09. European Business Register NORBRREG 957409369-6  Patricia M. Mische Co-founder, former president, Global Education Associates Lloyd Professor of Peace Studies and World Law, Antioch College (retired)  Right up front it should be noted what this book is, and is not, about. Despite what might be assumed from reading the title, it is not about education for economic development. On the contrary, the author denounces co-opting education for narrow economic goals.  Nor is it an introductory work on educating for human potential, human rights, or peace.  Rather, it is a collection of essays for readers who are already grounded in basic concepts related to education for human development, human rights, and peace, and who would like to deepen and enlarge the scope of their thinking and practice.    The word developments in the title and throughout the volume is intentionally pluralized. Haavelsrud explains in his Preface that he was inspired by Swedish social scientist, Gunnar Myrdal, who criticized the dominant economic theory of the 1960s and proposed instead that development be viewed not only in economic terms, but as “upward movements of qualities of value in a society and in the world.“ Haavelsrud, aligning himself with Myrdal and also with fellow Norwegian peace researcher Johan Galtung, views peace as such a value. Peace involves “upward movements of “equity, empathy, healing past and present traumas, and nonviolent conflict transformation.”  The aim of this volume, says Haavelsrud, is to explore how education “can support – and maybe even initiate - upward movements in developments towards more peace.” He asserts that “evidence for these upward movements may be found in all places and times ranging from individual experience and everyday life to the global level,” and that education (informal and non-formal as well as formal education) is a cultural voice with political relevance. Although education has often been used to uphold a negative status quo, it can also be an active force for advancing cultural shifts and upward developments toward the realization of positive and comprehensive peace. Peace is defined not only as an absence of war and violence, but also the presence and promotion of human rights, democratic participation, social justice, ecological integrity and full human realization. Education in developments toward more peace, says Haavelsrud, is a topic of “transdisciplinary magnitude” that ranges from dyadic relations (including inner peace), to structures at national and global levels. He proposes that peace education be grounded in local experience, realities and sensitivities. It must consider the historical and cultural context of learners and use methodologies that are consistent with its content, and with local political and educational policy. At the same time, its scope must be enlarged to include transcultural perspectives.  Haavelsrud writes with authority that comes from a long and distinguished career in peace research, education and practice, not only in his home country of Norway where he is professor emeritus with the University of Tromso and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Review of Education in developments: Volume 3  168  but also extensive experience in education for peace in South Africa (where he was a Distinguished Fellow of the South African Research Chair in Development Education), Germany (where he was Carl von-Ossietzky Guest Professor of the German Council for Peace and Conflict Research), and North and South America (including with culture of peace initiatives), and Australia (where he is a patron of the International Center of Nonviolence). He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Peace Education, on the board of the Global Institute of Applied governance in Science and Innovation, is a co-founder of the Global Campaign for Peace Education and has worked extensively with the Nomura Center for Lifelong Integrated education in Japan. The essays in this work draw from this extensive worldwide experience and networking.  They include cultural perspectives from Japan, Latin America, South Africa, Europe and North America. Additionally, the author draws on a wealth of research he has done over his long career and includes theoretical, historical and practical insights from diverse disciplines (ranging from philosophy, history, and literature, to science, technology and pedagogy). Among the many luminaries he references are Paolo Freire, Johan Galtung, Nelson Mandela, Perez Esquivel, Yoshiko Nomura, Desmond Tutu, Odoro Hoppers, Elise Boulding, David Hicks, Mphahlele, Foucault, Mathiesen, Carson McCullars, Betty Reardon, Howard Richards, George Herbert Mead, Franz Kafka, Chinua Achebe, Gunnar Myrdal and Alva Myrdal, to name only a few.  Needless to say, the discussion is lively and rich in transdisciplinary and multicultural perspectives.  Following a Foreword and Preface, this volume has eleven chapters (each a distinct essay), organized in three Parts:  Part I, Developments in Transdisciplinary Light, includes essays on 1) “Rethinking peace education”; 2) “Learning human rights praxis”; 3) “Analyzing peace pedagogies”; and 4) “Three roots of transdisciplinary analysis in peace education.” Part II, Multiple Epistemologies and Cognitive Justice, includes chapters on 5) “The academy, development, and modernity’s ‘other’”; 6) “Contextual specificity in peace education”; 7) “Learning about contextual conditions from narratives”; and 8) “Power and knowledge in multi-paradigmatic science”. Part III, Educational Policies and Learning Methodologies, includes 9) “A comprehensive program for developing policies on education for participation, democracy and civic resistance from a nonviolent perspective: the Latin American case”; 10) “Peace education confronting reality”; and 11) “Revisiting peace learning methodology.’” Chapters one and nine are co-authored with Argentinian peace educator, Alicia Cabezudo, and chapter three with Oddbjorn Stenberg, but most are solo essays by Haavelsrud. Like the two volumes that preceded this collection, and like all Haavelsrud’s work, this volume is well-researched, well-documented, critically thoughtful, and comprehensive in its questions, analyses and conclusions. This is a sophisticated discussion of the field with challenges for readers and practitioners to go deeper and wider in their transformative peace education efforts. Readers who love theory and philosophy will find in this volume a lively discussion of diverse educational philosophies in general, and peace education in particular, and a treasure trove of The Journal of Social Encounters 169  references for future reading. Readers looking for practical insights about what to do in the classroom on Monday morning will be delighted by essays showing how the work of young fiction writers in South Africa were effectively used to provide contextual specificity and meaningful narratives that engaged South African learners in an exploration of justice and peace issues that had local relevance. The examples are from Haavelsrud’s research and teaching in South Africa, but the methodology can be easily adapted for use in other regions and cultures by using relevant literature from those regions. And readers who wonder how to address educational policy will find the last section identifies challenges and offers practical approaches.     

Review of Education in developments: Volume 3

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