The impact of the socio-political context on peace education: experiences from three selected universities in Zimbabwe.
Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
In this dissertation, I focus on the impact of the socio-political context on the experiences of the
teaching and learning of peace at Africa University (AU), the National University of Science and
Technology (NUST) and the Midlands State University (MSU). The study is entrenched within
the Systems and Marxist theories of education as well as the transformational conflict theory. My
central argument is that peace education is currently operating within constrained environment
within which it is viewed with suspicion as a western inspired regime change agenda. This is
evident in the onslaught that it faces from state aligned media. Secondly, the potential
effectiveness of peace education is also hindered by partisan political tampering that has kept its
content and pedagogical approaches on a leash to ensure that it steers clear of controversial yet
pertinent issues. Due to this evident lack of political will students argue that current peace
education initiatives are not only irrelevant but designed to mollify them so they do not question
the injustices of their lived realities. In my study I underscore that the sanctioning of peace
education in Zimbabwean universities remains cosmetic in the absence of political will to
address the structural socio-political imbalances that currently militate against the values of
plurality, tolerance, truth telling, forgiveness and reconciliation. This dissertation mainly draws
on former and current students, lecturers and retired educationists‟ subjective interpretations of
their teaching, learning and existential experiences.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.