TY - JOUR
T1 - CSOs working for peace through education in conflict-affected areas
T2 - The case of Cyprus
AU - Hajisoteriou, Christina
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 British Educational Research Association.
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - This article discusses the results of a qualitative study examining the ways civil society organisations (CSOs) may better support grass-roots initiatives for everyday peacebuilding via education in conflict-affected societies, where official state processes have failed. Our research is set in the Cyprus context, where the conflict between the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities that has led to the division of the island seems rather ‘intractable’ and ‘frozen’. From the process of the analysis, three thematic categories emerged: (a) cultivating citizen empowerment and civil initiatives; (b) enhancing children's and youth's voices; and (c) launching partnerships with state and societal actors. We discuss our findings under the framework of intercultural education and change. It is argued that for peacebuilding to flourish, CSOs should use education to cultivate social and sympathetic imagination by enabling people from both communities to imagine other, more socially just, but also socio-economically better, alternatives to the current status quo, through everyday peace and education initiatives.
AB - This article discusses the results of a qualitative study examining the ways civil society organisations (CSOs) may better support grass-roots initiatives for everyday peacebuilding via education in conflict-affected societies, where official state processes have failed. Our research is set in the Cyprus context, where the conflict between the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities that has led to the division of the island seems rather ‘intractable’ and ‘frozen’. From the process of the analysis, three thematic categories emerged: (a) cultivating citizen empowerment and civil initiatives; (b) enhancing children's and youth's voices; and (c) launching partnerships with state and societal actors. We discuss our findings under the framework of intercultural education and change. It is argued that for peacebuilding to flourish, CSOs should use education to cultivate social and sympathetic imagination by enabling people from both communities to imagine other, more socially just, but also socio-economically better, alternatives to the current status quo, through everyday peace and education initiatives.
KW - civil society organisations
KW - conflict-affected areas
KW - interculturalism
KW - peace education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165045060&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/berj.3894
DO - 10.1002/berj.3894
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85165045060
SN - 0141-1926
VL - 49
SP - 1234
EP - 1253
JO - British Educational Research Journal
JF - British Educational Research Journal
IS - 6
ER -