Dear Sarah,
I’ve been thinking about peace again. In my work with sustainability, I often think of how we can create systems which are harmonic and durable. The Bible says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). There’s something so proactive about the way Jesus states this. We often think of peace as an absence of turmoil or conflict. But in this simple line, Jesus is saying that it’s not enough to simply avoid conflict; we must actively bring about peace. When we do this, people will recognize that we’ve been hanging out with the Prince of Peace. Imagine a kingdom where the rule is peace. What does that say about how our governments could be run?
Nigel Dower (2009) writes that pacificism is a philosophy of sustainable peace. Pacificists concern themselves with making peace and creating systems which ensure lasting peace. He says that pacificism is characterized by “a belief in the possibility of making peace a more durable and robust feature in human relationships, both locally and globally, and in its ethical desirability as something that ought –morally—to be the object of human endeavor” (p.144). So what? What does this mean for us? How can we contribute to sustainable peace?
For me, sustainable peace, global and cultural competence, and an ethic of care are the hallmarks of educating for sustainability. One of the tools I enjoy working with is international service-learning. In international service learning, students begin to question their own assumptions such as imperialism, nationalism, consumerism, materialism, capitalism, etc. Though some studies have shown that most of a student’s learning occurs in-country, rather than pre-departure (Citron & Kline, 2001), issues such as service, partnerships, learning, interculturalism, ethnocentrism, power, privilege, oppression, and justice can be addressed before students land on foreign soil. I believe it is critical that students begin to address these issues and creatively think of scenarios wherein they might be seen as perpetrators of ethnocentrism or cultural imperialism.
How do we prepare students for intercultural service-learning in a foreign country? It begins with pre-trip preparation which addresses not only the details of the trip, that is, the nuts and bolts of the itinerary and cost and insurance forms, but the ethical issues surrounding service-learning. Pre-trip preparation can lay the foundation for creating an atmosphere of global understanding and intercultural awareness rather than “acts of cultural invasion” (Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002). Without pre-trip preparation, students are more likely to unconsciously become exploiters in the new culture or “unwittingly act as cultural imperialists and do more damage than good” (Lutterman-Aguilar & Gingerich, 2002, p. 19).
Other pre-trip issues which may be addressed are motivation, service, social justice, personal myth or worldview, transformational learning, and courageous conversation techniques.
If Dower (2009) is correct in stating that there are no simple, one-size-fits-all solutions to the question of peace, then we must prepare our students to act as global/local peacemakers. How? When love is our motivation for serving, international service-learning becomes truly collaborative as students develop an ethic of care and a relationship of trust with their community partners.
In peace,
No comments:
Post a Comment