Open AccessPeace Education and Colombia’s Efforts Against Violence: A Literature Review of Cátedra de la Paz
Author(s) -
Esteban Morales
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
revista latinoamericana de estudios educativos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2448-878X
pISSN - 0185-1284
DOI - 10.48102/rlee.2021.51.2.384
Subject(s) - peace education , citizen journalism , government (linguistics) , political science , politics , peace and conflict studies , scale (ratio) , institution , structural violence , public administration , peace economics , sociology , environmental ethics , law , geography , cartography , philosophy , linguistics
As long as there has been violence in organized societies, achieving peace has been a goal through different means, including education. In Colombia –a country where the national government and the guerrilla FARC reached a peace agreement–, education was set to be essential to promote a culture of peace. Accordingly, this article presents a literature review of Cátedra de la Paz, a peace education course that seeks to encourage and strengthen a culture of peace in every educational institution in Colombia. The literature review suggests that, whereas this course reveals a positive impact in the communities, a lack of institutional support –which could stem from larger-scale political and societal conflicts over what peace means and how to achieve it– trumps its implementation. Furthermore, this paper argues that –if Cátedra de la Paz or other future peace education courses aim to promote a culture of peace grounded in contextualized needs and opportunities– critical lenses towards the topics and pedagogy are necessary.