Experiential learning in conflict analysis and resolution education : an overview

Abstract

Across higher education institutions, the study of conflict and its resolution takes place under many programmatic and departmental labels. These include, among others, Conflict Analysis and Resolution (CAR), Peace Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Social Justice Studies, and Dispute Resolution as well as Anthropology, International Relations, Political Science, Legal Studies, Psychology, Sociology, and other traditional disciplines. The variety of institutional homes helps to account for what is a widely diverse set of approaches to teaching about conflict. Relatedly, conflict pedagogy is shaped by other aspects of institutional histories. For example, the current School for Peace & Conflict Studies at Kent State University in Ohio (USA) traces its origins to an infamous event in 1971, when four students who were peacefully protesting on the campus were killed by Ohio National Guard troops. The Kent State program’s long-standing curricular emphasis on peaceful forms of change reflects the institutional commitment made in response to the campus (and national) tragedy. Trends in conflict education can also follow from broader priorities, such as the post-9/11 proliferation of courses focused on preventing terrorism and countering violent extremism, and the new programs of study in social justice and human rights that take up longstanding concerns of the conflict field, such as structural violence, discrimination, identity conflicts, and inequality.