This article examines the role of code-switching in recreating the place, Palestine, that contemporary Palestinian memoirist Ghada Karmi was expelled from by providing a close analysis of the code-switched expressions and the plurality of voices and perspectives that this linguistic and cultural phenomenon imply in her work "Return: A…

After the partition of Ireland, the newly established parliament in Belfast was given control over education. The unionist government, mainly representing the majoritarian Protestant population, embarked on a reform of the pre-existing denominational education system and tried to persuade all the churches to transfer their schools to state control…

The changes associated with the Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment moved the seat of authority from princes and bishops to the individual and made the application of rationality the measure of believability. This paper argues that the current period of socio-political and moral upheaval, triggered by disruptive technology, anger about…

Education plays an important role in bridging divisions and promoting positive intergroup relations. A number of initiatives aimed at improving relations in conflict-affected societies have been based on the contact hypothesis. However, very little attention has been devoted to the potential of such interventions to reduce social distance between…

Teachers' unions and community organizing emerged out of shared collective struggles for social justice in the United States in the twentieth century. Beyond broad general aspirations for a better society, however, their interests and tactics have not always been compatible. This interpretive essay revisits three recent case studies of interaction…

The reader is taken on a journey spanning some 30 years devoted to the author's involvement in practicing, teaching and studying peace education. The core concept in this journey is active "bystandership," which implies the capacity to disengage from our ethnocentric narratives and perceptions and to face the emotional challenges of…

Studying parallels between movement behaviour and violent actions can help understand interdisciplinary possibilities for prevention, intervention, mediation and post-conflict healing. This article explores the role of unconscious and conscious movement decision-making in violent/peaceful interactions. Thematic analysis of interviews was conducted…

One issue that is often ignored in political theory is the problem of means and modes of communication affecting "dialogue" between parties. In this age of hyper communication, this is something particularly relevant. The point here is that, despite the ease with which we have access to both means and modes of communication, there…

We propose that intergroup contact provides an effective means by which to reduce, resolve, and prevent conflict of all kinds, including violent conflict. We review the vast literature on the effectiveness of intergroup contact and discuss when and how it reduces prejudice. We also discuss key features of successful interventions, highlighting …

War means threat to people's lives. Research derived from terror management theory (TMT) illustrates that the awareness of death leads people to defend cultural ingroups and their worldviews to attain a sense of symbolic immortality and thereby buffer existential anxiety. This can result in hostile effects of mortality salience (MS), such as…

Democratic societies today face increasing diversity, including religious diversity, and are finding that interfaith engagement possesses potential to bring out the worst and the best of human responses and, correlatively, that such engagement can either assist in or undermine the social cohesion of these societies. This article employs Triune…

One manifestation of division and the history of conflict in Northern Ireland is the parallel education system that exists for Protestants and Catholics. Although recent decades have seen some advances in the promotion of integrated education, around 95% of children continue to attend schools separated on ethno-religious lines. In 2007 a programme…

The case of education in the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Jaffa, Israel, demonstrates the dialectical role of education in conflict-affected societies. As scholars of transformative education and critical pedagogy have noted, education tends to serve as an instrument of the dominant ideology of social and political elites, yet it is also a…

The split and continual civil war of Yugoslav, which once caused deep concern by the international community, has its complex specific reasons. But for a long time, the tense relations among the ethnic groups are the underlying factors that caused the disintegration of Yugoslav. The harmonious ethnicity relations will promote national prosperity.…

Focusing on the Palestinian-Israeli case, this article critically reviews some central issues which burden the field of intergroup encounters. More specifically it considers some of their foundational historical and educational roots. I point to the reified concepts of self and identity, the history of schooling and its practices, and the coming…