Sara Clarke-Habibi, PhD - University of Cambridge
Presented at 2018 Conference of the British Associate for International and Comparative Research (BAICE)
12-14 September 2018 | University of York
This paper examines how the recontextualization of international peacebuilding discourses in local (post-conflict) school contexts can produce divergent peacebuilding logics and practices marked by significantly different degrees of inclusiveness and criticality. Based on observation, document analysis, interviews and focus groups conducted in 2014, seven secondary schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are evaluated against an original five-item rubric for assessing institutional peacebuilding practices. The rubric measures the extent and coherence of a school’s peacebuilding engagement as reflected in its official educational mission, its stance on diversity recruitment among teachers and students, its integration of peace themes and pedagogies into the curriculum, its degree of inter-community engagement, and its de facto policy on peacebuilding participation. The assessment exercise reveals significant variation in peacebuilding inclusiveness within and between the schools, suggesting that peace learning in BiH is quite heterogeneous. This variation is partly attributable to the recontextualization of international peacebuilding discourses among regional education authorities, whose mandates are strongly influenced by political ideologies and interests associated with BiH’s governing ethnic groups. However, it is school directors who exercise day-to-day decision-making power and their often very personal interpretations of ‘peace’ ultimately define which peacebuilding logic is adopted and operationalized throughout the school, as evidenced by sharp differences in institutional practice within ethnic communities. These different peacebuilding logics produce contestable ‘peaces’ that feed into political stalemates at the state level. Previous studies have tended to gloss over differences in school practice. This paper argues that a more nuanced and critical analysis is necessary for tracking how international peacebuilding discourses translate into local practices. It raises questions about what inclusive peacebuilding in education really means and requires at the school level, and offers a new tool for assessing and reducing gaps between peacebuilding theory and practice in educational settings.
Presented at 2018 Conference of the British Associate for International and Comparative Research (BAICE)
12-14 September 2018 | University of York
This paper examines how the recontextualization of international peacebuilding discourses in local (post-conflict) school contexts can produce divergent peacebuilding logics and practices marked by significantly different degrees of inclusiveness and criticality. Based on observation, document analysis, interviews and focus groups conducted in 2014, seven secondary schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are evaluated against an original five-item rubric for assessing institutional peacebuilding practices. The rubric measures the extent and coherence of a school’s peacebuilding engagement as reflected in its official educational mission, its stance on diversity recruitment among teachers and students, its integration of peace themes and pedagogies into the curriculum, its degree of inter-community engagement, and its de facto policy on peacebuilding participation. The assessment exercise reveals significant variation in peacebuilding inclusiveness within and between the schools, suggesting that peace learning in BiH is quite heterogeneous. This variation is partly attributable to the recontextualization of international peacebuilding discourses among regional education authorities, whose mandates are strongly influenced by political ideologies and interests associated with BiH’s governing ethnic groups. However, it is school directors who exercise day-to-day decision-making power and their often very personal interpretations of ‘peace’ ultimately define which peacebuilding logic is adopted and operationalized throughout the school, as evidenced by sharp differences in institutional practice within ethnic communities. These different peacebuilding logics produce contestable ‘peaces’ that feed into political stalemates at the state level. Previous studies have tended to gloss over differences in school practice. This paper argues that a more nuanced and critical analysis is necessary for tracking how international peacebuilding discourses translate into local practices. It raises questions about what inclusive peacebuilding in education really means and requires at the school level, and offers a new tool for assessing and reducing gaps between peacebuilding theory and practice in educational settings.