The effects of armed conflict on education have been thoroughly documented and include the destruction of school infrastructure, forced migration and exodus of skilled people, such as teachers, and diverted state funding. The effects of education on armed conflict, however, are less well understood. Rather than seeing schooling as a panacea, we need to understand the meaning of education as it actually exists in various contexts if we are to understand the complex relationships between formal education, the fragility of states, and armed conflict.
On Thursday, October 29, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., international scholars will convene at the German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI) in New York for the Arnhold Symposium on Education and Armed Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Symposium will examine how education may help produce and reproduce unjust or structurally violent political systems and how it may act to create more just and peaceful social and economic prospects for Sub-Saharan Africa.
The discussion will bring together scholars working on the complex relationship between education and conflict, representing diverse academic disciplines, including political science, education, anthropology, development studies, and peace and conflict studies. It will highlight the work of a member of the prestigious Leibniz Association that conducts research on educational media and curricula, and its efforts to promote research on education for sustainable peace in post-conflict or transitional societies. The focus on Africa corresponds with an initiative of the German government to increase research and engagement on and in Africa in order to build up capacities and to promote political stability by presenting policies and practices designed to strengthen resilience and social cohesion.
Prof. Dr. Simone Lässig, Director of the German Historical Institute, will introduce the work of the Georg Eckert Institute and the origins of the Georg Arnhold Program. The Georg Eckert Institute conducts research on textbooks from all around the world – both from a cultural and historical perspective. It also examines stereotypes, prejudices, and images of “the enemy” in textbooks, particularly in those regions of the world where there is or has been conflict within societies or between nations. She will explore how while textbooks may promote prejudice and animosity, they can also contribute to reconciliation and peacebuilding. The Georg Arnhold Program is a response to the rising demand for regionally-sensitive approaches to establishing and strengthening cultures of peace and sustainable development. It was established by the New Yorker Henry Arnhold to honor the legacy of his grandfather, a committed pacifist.
Prof. Dr. Lässig will be joined by Prof. Mario Novelli, Professor of the Political Economy of Education at the University of Sussex and Deputy Director for the Centre for International Education. As the keynote speaker, Prof. Novelli will focus on major challenges faced by education systems and education interventions seeking to play a greater role in promoting sustainable peacebuilding processes. Prof. Novelli will address how education plays a significant role in fostering sustainable peacebuilding by contributing to political, economic, environmental, social, and cultural “transformations” within conflict affected-societies. He will also describe how contemporary approaches to promoting peacebuilding through education overemphasize inter-personal relationships, attitudes, and behaviors, and underplay the significant systemic and structural opportunities that exist within education systems and interventions to promote “positive” peace. Furthermore, Prof. Novelli will explain how a more sustainable approach to peacebuilding places an emphasis on social development that addresses underlying causes of conflict such as political, economic, and social inequalities and injustices.
This discussion will take place on Thursday, October 29, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the German Center for Research and Innovation (871 United Nations Plaza, First Avenue, btw. 48th & 49th Streets). Follow @gcri_ny and the hashtag #SustainablePeace for live tweets. A video recording will be available shortly after the event.
This event is co-sponsored by the German Center for Research and Innovation, the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, and The New School for Social Research.
