Peace education for an equitable and sustainable world

Abstract

Peace is not only the epicenter of the global geopolitics but it has also been one of the most consistent and cherished desires of mankind in every époque. Violence as a discursive method and a mouthpiece of antagonistic epistemologies and hierarchies of value, from youth/gender violence to international warfare, designates peace an imperative task for today’s education. With the aim to synthesize an interpretive instrument for a co-existing, interdependent, and complex system of peace concepts, this paper (1) models an ecology of four peace conceptualizations: Negative peace, Positive peace, Homeostatic peace, Futuristic peace; (2) situates these conceptualizations within peace education and SDGs discourses; and (3) provides theoretical structure for integrating peace and peace education studies in the fields of comparative-international and sustainability education. This theoretical analysis is based on the premise that the purpose, content and scope of peace education for an equitable and sustainable world greatly depend on a concept of peace in the minds of education stakeholders.