Peace Studies at a California Community College

This is a case study of the development of a new peace studies program at Citrus College in Glendora, California, the third such program at a California community college. The program began in the spring semester of 2016 when the cornerstone course, Humanities 123 – Introduction to Peace Studies, was taught for the first time. The course is an introduction to peace and conflict studies, with an emphasis on war's destructive impact on culture. The course examines the systematic approaches that combatants have historically used to obliterate the cultural heritage of their battlefield opponents. It encourages tolerance and respect for different perspectives, as well as hope for peaceful conflict resolution. The chapter reviews the course content, as well as student reactions to the material. Overall, the students find the course to be rewarding and are surprised at how interesting peace studies can be. The program is now being expanded to include a study abroad component in Oslo, Norway.

Nonviolent Discipline Practices Within Classrooms

This chapter focuses on nonviolent discipline practices within classroom settings. The authors draw upon a trauma-informed perspective as a means to encourage professionals working with children to engage in best practices as they decide how to best discipline children under their care. They also address a few examples of nonviolence in U.S. history because peace has worked multiple times as a means to solve social problems. In addition, they provide a brief history of discipline in U.S. schools and how that has evolved over time. Furthermore, they explain possible causes of trauma in children, how to discipline children with histories of trauma, how to implement trauma-informed care in K-12 settings, as well as provide examples of trauma-informed classroom strategies. Using a case study, they provide an example of how to guide teachers to use nonviolent discipline in their work with children with histories of trauma.

Preventing and Transforming Violence

The authors have spent careers preventing and transforming violence, as a lawyer for public schools, treatment leader for repeat violent juvenile offenders, victim offender mediator, and an army colonel. Here they share the field-tested insights they have gained over a combined 50 plus years of service. They also elaborate Gandhi's nonviolence (actual and envisioned) so that readers will start to fully appreciate what is required for sustainable nonviolence. He offered several practices, tools, and ideas that have significant potential to help the contemporary world embrace nonviolence as a complex growth-filled way of living, one that promises to help the human race sustain and enrich their civilization(s). This updated chapter will include reflections about preventing and reducing violence with a particular focus on the increased and tragic violence in the United States under the Trump administration.

Resolving Conflicts and Preventing Violence in Italian Schools

Phenomena of conflicts among students are on the rise everywhere in the world. According to a new report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNCEF), half of the world's teenagers experience peer violence and bullying in and around the school. School violence affects learning and has a negative effect on students, schools, and the broader community. The effects on students are both psychical and phycological and often lead to isolation, depression, and in some cases to suicide. This chapter provides an overview of an alternative methodology approach to the teaching of dialogue and non-violent communication in schools. Furthermore, it examines a training model that uses mediation and Aikido to teach communication, conflict management, and conflict resolution to students and teachers. The training, called School of Mediation-Mediation for School (SMS), has been developed in Italy by a group of lawyers, mediators, and researchers. To date, the project has involved more than 600 students and 250 teachers with important results.

“We'll Put a Boot in Your Ass, It's the American Way”

Since before the founding of the United States through slavery, the extermination of the native populace, war after war, regime overthrow, and more wars, popular media have been used to stir resentments and produce violent fantasies in the general citizenry that often allow for policies of actual violence to be applied against “the other.” This chapter will analyze the affective coordinates of this system in the post-9/11 context, focusing especially on how nationalist-jingoism has now triumphed in the age of the Trump Administration. Crucial interrogations addressed in this chapter include: Why are white southern/rural males particularly susceptible to popular culture induced affective violence? What are the mechanics of profit and neoliberal imperatives of this structure? What is new about the linkage of these phenomena with the first Twitter-President? In pursuing these questions, the authors will use case studies involving the popular media vectors of television, film, and music.

Reflection on How National and Gender Culture Can Nourish and Promote Violence and What American Culture Must Face and Change to Reduce Violence

It has been a few years since the editors published their first book together on nonviolence. Arguably, violence has gotten worse. Certainly, divisive nationalist hate mongering leaders have risen to power in three of the world's purported democracies: Brazil, India, and the U.S. Human inability to adapt to change and receive and respond to the objective truths of their lives seems to be leading this disturbing trend in the wrong direction. The editors can no longer just contribute a chapter on micro changes. Instead, they are moved to address and confront entrenched systemic root causes of violence in the U.S. and between men and women around the world.

Using Human-Centered Trade Policies to End Violence in Africa

International organizations have been discussing the issue of poverty and development in Africa since the end of colonialism. However, results have been inadequate, and the majority of the African population still lives in poverty and lacks access to healthcare, education, and safety. This chapter analyzes the benefits of preferential trade agreements in supporting both economic and social development. PTAs that are conditional to peace and human rights protection can be the economic tool to end violence, corruption, and bad government in Africa. Foreign economic policy in the past has left African countries indebted to the West and in competition with much older, more developed economies. This chapter discusses how the recently negotiated African Continental Free Trade Area can strengthen intracontinental trade. The agreement, if managed correctly, has the potential to grow the African economy massively and help lift people out of poverty while enforcing an end to violence from state-actors across the continent.

Restorative Approaches to Honoring Human Dignity and Transforming Urban Schools

Drawing on restorative processes research and research on social justice, this chapter is organized in the following manner: First, the authors provide a brief history of the administration of justice. Second, the authors discuss the global rise of restorative justice in the education context. In order for a program to be completely restorative, it must include several educational components as part of restorative processes. Towards this end, the chapter then situates these components in the context of social justice and explores how school systems use them – with specific emphasis on victim-offender conferencing and human dignity. Next, the authors share examples of international initiatives pertaining to restorative practices. Conclusions summarize the significance of restorative practices in school settings in order to prevent violence, reduce rates of expulsions and suspensions, and create a safe and secure teaching and learning environment for all.

Intersectional Dialogue While Combating LGBT-Phobia in Schools

The presence of culture of violence in the school environment, manifested from the language, physical, and social spheres is widely recognized by organizations, which has among its goals encouraging quality education to all, especially to young people. Therefore, LGBT bullying has gained a growing awareness by civil society, especially with regard to its negative outcomes to the formation of youth, forming a psychological and social legacy that has serious consequences for the establishment of a society ruled by the sustainable development principles. In this way, this chapter aims to discuss possible mechanisms to combat LGBT-phobia, especially based on bullying, in order to create a culture of peace in schools. Criticizing, investigating, discussing, and relativizing are crucial alternative methods in order to build a healthy school environment and potentially transformative.

How to Create Sustainable Nonviolence Curriculum in Public Schools in Sweden

The author argues the urgent need for nonviolence training and the contemporary challenges of implementing such plans. Furthermore, the chapter briefly discusses the eruptions of violence and experienced in Europe, along with innovative ways to educate all stakeholders. In addition, the chapter includes a case study of Swedish schools, with research of contemporary nonviolence training and curriculum. The chapter will benefit a variety of entities and organizations, such as educators in public school systems and governmental organizations. Findings suggest a growing concern among educators, students, and parents due to escalating threats and acts of violence in school settings. Moreover, findings indicate partial integration of sustainable nonviolence curriculum into some Swedish schools. The author proposes to integrate and implement nonviolence training into the Swedish public school system as nationally-mandated integrated subjects. Further research suggests additional research conducted to measure qualitative and quantitative results nonviolence curriculum and training.