Teaching Peace Education at a South African University

• Published in: Peace review (Palo Alto, Calif.) Calif.), 2018-01, Vol.30 (1), p.53-61
• Main Author: John, Vaughn M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apartheid; Civil war; Colleges & universities; Conflict; Conflict resolution; Education; Law; Peace; Peace studies; Political organizations; Teaching; Violence; War
• ISSN: 1040-2659; 1469-9982
• DOI: 10.1080/10402659.2017.1419671

Any reflections on teaching peace and war will invariably be shaped by the context in which such teaching occurs, by the teacher, and by a vision of the world that such teaching seeks to promote. Thus, John begins with the ingredients that shape his teachings of peace education courses at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. During the 1980s, he joined his university, located in a province gripped by a deadly civil conflict. This conflict, ostensibly between rival political organizations, claimed approximately 7,500 lives and was later known as the Natal War. For the first six years, he worked on a project that monitored and reported on the conflict during emergency law restrictions, which sought to conceal the Apartheid state's funding and incitement of this violence. Here, John discusses the formal courses at undergraduate and master's levels that he has developed and revised over the last fifteen years, and his approaches to teaching peace education in this post-conflict context.