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Cultural Violence
Abstract
This article introduces a concept of `cultural violence', and can be seen as a follow-up of the author's introduction of the concept of `structural violence' over 20 years ago (Galtung, 1969). `Cultural violence' is defined here as any aspect of a culture that can be used to legitimize violence in its direct or structural form. Symbolic violence built into a culture does not kill or maim like direct violence or the violence built into the structure. However, it is used to legitimize either or both, as for instance in the theory of a Herrenvolk, or a superior race. The relations between direct, structural and cultural violence are explored, using a violence triangle and a violence strata image, with various types of casual flows. Examples of cultural violence are indicated, using a division of culture into religion and ideology, art and language, and empirical and formal science. The theory of cultural violence is then related to two basic points in Gandhism, the doctrines of unity of life and of unity of means and ends. Finally, the inclusion of culture as a major focus of peace research is seen not only as deepening the quest for peace, but also as a possible contribution to the as yet non-existent general discipline of `culturology'.
This editorial introduces the special issue “Paths to Peace? Infrastructures, Peace and Conflict”, which seeks to bridge transport and mobility history with historical peace and conflict studies – two fields that have largely evolved separately. Drawing on Johan Galtung’s definitions of “peace” and “violence”, the issue shifts beyond a traditional international history and diplomacy focus to explore societal dynamics more broadly, including social inequalities and racism. Building on scholarship that examines the interplay between technology and ideology or infrastructure and power, the contributions investigate themes such as state formation, nation-building and the structural violence inherent in infrastructure provision. Collectively, they emphasise the importance of incorporating the material and physical structures of the past into historical peace and conflict studies, while advocating for infrastructure history to engage with broader conceptual frameworks of peace and conflict.
The pursuit of peace in international relations requires an integration of key perspectives—inclusive of the developmental, environmental, political and cultural—through which to transform conflict into a positive dynamic of societal flourishing. By examining the foundational teachings of peace researcher Johan Galtung and subsequent insights and systems investigating global peace, a more comprehensive evaluation is gained. This allows for the representation of an integrated vision of peace through a cosmogram known as mandala in Hindu-Buddhist spiritual philosophy. The mandala, while grounded developmentally in Indic cosmology, represents a transformation technology that is universal across time and cultures. Buddhist concepts in support of this methodological platform are dukkha (suffering), sukha (happiness), the doctrine of ‘dependent origination’ and the associated concept of impermanence. The findings of this exercise are that peace needs to be approached through multiple perspectives, that it has cosmological significance in its own right, as shown through Galtungian and Buddhist thought, and that it is a process that is constantly renewed.
The world's social and environmental systems are currently experiencing an increase in the number of conflicts and irreversible human-induced changes. While destabilizing, these changes offer opportunities to advance the science involved to promote peace and sustainability. This forum outlines 12 key research agendas essential for advancing our understanding of the peace-sustainability nexus: global challenges (including the Anthropocene, disasters, and migration); socio-ecological systems (such as oceans, water, and heritage); policy solutions (focused on cities, food, and geoengineering); and guiding principles for peace and sustainability (emphasizing gender, justice, and plurality). Each agenda echoes the normative elements of peace and sustainability as processes while situating them within specific contexts. This approach works within limitations when mobilizing capacities to minimize unintended negative impacts of well-intentioned solutions. Beyond examining how each area either strengthens or weakens the relationship between peace and sustainability, this forum also encourages future research to explore the interconnections that might illuminate pathways for meaningful action. The brief overview of research trends and knowledge gaps can support future work in considering the capacities, constraints, and contexts underpinning the peace-sustainability nexus.
The Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan is a highly complex conflict that requires a comprehensive understanding. Employing the “levels of analysis” theoretical framework, this article delves into the intricacies of South Asian rivalry at three levels: intrastate, interstate, and regional. From the early years of partition, it is apparent that New Delhi's approach of rotating Kashmiri leadership to maintain political balance has instead led to continued instability in the state. On a bilateral level, India and Pakistan find themselves trapped in an endless cycle of acute anxiety, armed violence, and failed negotiations which has complicated and prolonged the sub‐continental rivalry. Finally, from the standpoint of the regional subsystem‐level explanation, this article emphasizes how China's expanding footprint in South Asia is exacerbating tensions in the sub‐continental system. Hence, it is imperative for India to focus on the conditions and causal processes at the level of domestic politics by engaging Kashmiris in a meaningful dialogue. India should also adapt its approach to power politics, both internally and externally, particularly by embracing soft power strategies, to expand its diplomatic currency and status in South Asia and beyond.
The static-process framework developed in Chap. 2 distinguished static thinking and process thinking according to five basic orientations: abstract/context, closed/open, isolating/relational; passive/generative; and one/multi-dimensional. This chapter applies the static-process framework to develop a process metaphysics of positive peace, elucidating theories and practices of peace through a clear articulation of the process epistemology and process ontology, and corresponding values. It draws on Reardon’s (Betty A. Reardon: A Pioneer in Education for Peace and Human Rights. Springer International, [1989] 2015) outline of a paradigm of/for peace to evaluate the ways that process metaphysics aligns with, underpins and advances positive peace. This approach aspires to a vision of peace that addresses all forms of violence, including the less visible cultural and structural forms of violence. This includes and transcends the aims of negative peace, the absence of direct forms of violence, nesting negative peace within its more transformative vision and addressing the conditions that give rise to such violence. The aim of positive peace assumes a process epistemology of provisional realism, moving beyond both positivism and relativism by treating truth as an asymptote, polyphonic and always-in-process. Peaceful imaginaries find support in process ontologies, emphasising the participatory and emergent nature of life at every scale in a universe comprising part-wholes that together can co-create violence or peace.
This article explores the representation of the cost of war in mainstream and dissident republican murals in Northern Ireland by examining depictions of bodily sacrifice in three historical rebellions. The study highlights how psychological resilience is valorized alongside physical sacrifice, reinforcing identity hierarchies within republicanism. This challenges assumptions of republican solidarity, revealing competitive dynamics within and between mainstream and dissident factions. Murals as expressions of the republican identity and collective memory show how cultural violence is embedded in the republican collective memory, legitimizing past violence while marginalizing dissenting perspectives. This perpetuation hinders societal healing, as these narratives exclude those who challenge the justification of violence, complicating efforts to address the mental health crisis stemming from the Troubles. The article underscores the critical role of visual culture in shaping collective memory and identity, perpetuating societal hierarchies and cultural violence. It also identifies the potential for reinterpretation of sacrifice, offering a path toward inclusive understandings of the Troubles.
As the saying goes, it is difficult to live in a community without being influenced by it. Daily interaction with others is inevitable. Communicating with different people can be pleasant or it can lead to conflicts and tensions. In this text, we will address one aspect of communication - aggressive behavior. Do we often experience aggression from others or do we show it ourselves? How can we manage harmful behavior that can have negative and even destructive consequences? Aggression is an essential component of human nature. It plays an important role in the formation of personality, being as crucial as love. Self-control, which sometimes requires some form of internal confrontation, can become a source of energy and motivate important skills such as determination, self-education, and discipline. Aggressiveness in a positive form can contribute to success in various aspects of life, as long as it is managed responsibly. It is important not to eliminate this aspect of the personality, but to learn how to channel it constructively, both for our benefit and for the benefit of those around us.
What are we in rhetoric, writing, and literacy studies currently practicing? What practices do harm and, in contrast, which counter harm? How do we disrupt everyday, cumulative, and structural injustices and instead invest in accountability? In addition to asking these and other questions, this article engages four accountability practices that are necessary for countering the ongoing violence of the mythical norm (Lorde), of domination, and of harm within higher education: (1) resisting denial of ongoing harms; (2) recognizing normalized violence; (3) divesting from whiteness; and (4) investing in a consistent, relational approach to seeking justice. These practices help us tap into and amplify the work of BIPOC feminist and womanist educators-scholars-activists (including Ahmed, Gumbs, hooks, Mingus, and Royster) who have been countering epistemic injustice by building linguistic resources and expanding what we can name. These practices are part of a whole in which taking a piecemeal approach entrenches the current state of affairs: white supremacy status quo and normalized violence. Together, these add up to a call for striving toward justice in a sustained, momentum-gathering way.
This chapter assesses relevant theoretical dimensions of individual-level conflict drivers and how psychological processes relate to individual and communal violence. It also looks at social dynamics relating to civilians and conflict, and asks why do cultures become violent at a social level. It also discusses ideological enablers of violent behaviours such as religion and nationalism, and the impact of state fragility and resource-based conflict due to climate change. The chapter introduces the concepts of conflict intervention, categories and norms of intervention and how ontological interpretations of the conflict drive the nature of intervention.
In Germany, women categorised as refugees are often depicted homogenously, as potential victims of (sexual) violence. However, many of these women strongly criticise their collective representation as victims. Drawing on interviews, informal conversations, and observations from my fieldwork (2020-22), I will argue that vulnerability cannot be regarded as a ‘characteristic’ of so-called ‘refugee women’; rather, its rhetorical utilisation in the German public should be carefully examined. Using the example of the local discourse on violence prevention in Munich and Bavaria after 2015, I will examine how the construction of ‘refugee women’ as being particularly at risk of violence can pose a challenge to social workers’ efforts to prevent violence in municipal reception centres. Finally, I will argue that both the ascription of vulnerability to so-called ‘refugee women’, and their experiences of structural violence contradict established portrayals of German society as a social and geographical safe haven for people living through, and living after, the asylum process.
School violence is a daily reality for many in China and remains a significant issue globally. Recent extreme cases of school violence in China have amplified public and governmental concern, prompting a robust response from educational and legal authorities, including the implementation of various anti-bullying and anti-violence policies. Theoretical reflection on the relationship between the school space and violence is essential to understand why, how and to what effect schools suffer from various kinds of violence; however, this is an area yet to be thoroughly explored. This chapter argues for a critical geography of Chinese school violence by pointing to an epistemological transformation of school space which treats school not just as containers for state policy, but as situated moments that must be thoroughly problematized and expounded in their own right to understand state securitization and the trivial and banal violence embedded in everyday life. We argue that school violence in China is intimately related to the fear in school that defines the nexus between school and violence and the spatiality therein: the landscape (of securitization), continuum (of violence), and network (of social support). This hybridized perspective helps us to simultaneously explore the processes through which school violence proliferates and the specific forms in which it comes to be perceived, experienced and lived in the Chinese school.
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Factors that predict stigma perception and appraisal: Testing a stigma model of mental illness
Not only does stigma affect people with mental illness (PWMI), but also their family relatives, and all who care for them. There have been many studies on stigma over the years. However, researchers have a gap in studying the stigma of mental illness as a sociocultural, religious, and moral phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to test a model named the “Dynamic Stigma Model (DYSMO)” among a convenience sample of 330 persons receiving care in Ghana. The cross-sectional study examined relationships within the newly developed stigma model using statistical analysis techniques. The analysis found that religious and cultural beliefs positively influenced extreme social injustice, otherwise known as structural violence towards PWMI. The study also revealed that existing religious and cultural belief systems influenced how much a person appraised stigma as positive or negative. The study further found that stigma perceptions of PWMI influenced their anticipation of discrimination and subsequent social withdrawal, especially when in public places. Overall, the study revealed that factors such as religious, cultural, and structural violence can promote and damage perceptions about individuals with mental health problems. All stakeholders, including mental health practitioners, policymakers, and community members, must gain increased awareness and knowledge of the role religious and cultural beliefs play in the perpetuation and outcomes of mental illness stigma.
Motivation
Understanding the consequences of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site is crucial for global nuclear disarmament, environmental protection, and community‐centred social policies. This article highlights the ongoing challenges faced by the inhabitants of the Abay region in Kazakhstan.
Purpose
The primary objective of the study is to inform and enhance policies related to the former Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site. A key focus is understanding how locals perceive the site's impact on socioeconomic development.
Methods and Approach
This study uses semi‐structured interviews with locals. The research question addresses how locals perceive the impact of the Semipalatinsk test site on socioeconomic development. Data were collected through 48 interviews from January to March 2024 in the cities of Semey and Kurchatov and thematic patterns were analysed within Galtung's (1990) social justice framework.
Findings
The research shows how prolonged neglect by government impacts the investment climate and social well‐being. Restricted access to information on land contamination has hindered explanatory work. The study reveals gaps in understanding among residents and varying access to information.
Policy Implications
An effort on the part of the government to improve information and communication exchange is needed to address the nuclear site's impact, considering differing perceptions. Legislative actions should focus on remediating contamination, protecting public health, and ensuring participatory environmental governance. Policies must address the socioeconomic effects of environmental degradation, promoting social justice and sustainable development. Targeted infrastructure investment is vital for economic growth. Supporting emerging sectors such as medicine, services, and knowledge‐based industries will create employment opportunities and address brain drain.
The forcible removal of unwanted individuals from the body politic – as, say, illicit migrants or terrorists – is a prominent feature of contemporary world politics. This prominence, and its typical storying from the vantage point of the national or communal ‘self’ needing protection, risks rendering exclusionary politics and their considerable harms unremarkable, even unremarked. In this article, we argue that children’s literature offers a powerful, yet largely overlooked, resource for illuminating, engaging, and critiquing such practices. Drawing on examples from three prominent and enduringly popular texts – The Enchanted Wood, The Lion Who Wanted to Love, and Where the Wild Things Are – we show that the centring of excluded subjects in these books helps to render visible (1) the contestable, and often arbitrary, grounds for exclusion from existing communities and (2) the threatened or actual violence that underpins exclusionary decisions and processes. In doing this, the books offer powerful demonstration of the capacity of children’s literature – and popular culture more broadly – to expose and mount critique of emerging trends in world politics.
Introduction: The objective of this work was to critically review the central elements of the theoretical discussion on peacebuilding, including the methodologies proposed for its evaluation and analysis. Methodology: This review was carried out using the method of scoping review or exploratory systematic review, whose purpose is to obtain a panoramic view of the research on a topic, which allows identifying the evolution of knowledge about it, the emerging themes and the main methodological developments used in research in the field. Results: Much of the literature on peacebuilding has dealt with two main themes: first, the critique of the liberal approach in peace studies; second, the perspective that proposes a shift towards the local and its implications. The latter approach attaches great importance to the participation of local communities and advocates bottom-up peacebuilding processes that consider the particularities of each territory. Conclusions: Although there is no consensus on the meaning of peacebuilding and the type of interventions that are considered peacebuilding, it is clear that these are related to other areas of action such as development and the institutional framework. In addition, the multiplicity of interventions, actors and levels involved in peacebuilding makes its measurement difficult.
Low accessibility to mainstream psychosocial services disadvantages culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations, resulting in delayed care and high rates of unsupported psychological distress. Non-clinical interventions may play an important role in improving accessibility to psychosocial support, but what characterises best practice in this space remains unclear. This critical rapid review addressed this gap by searching for, and critically analysing, existing research on non-clinical psychosocial support services, drawing from a critical realist framework and Brossard and Chandler’s (Brossard and Chandler, Explaining mental illness: Sociological perspectives, Bristol University Press, 2022) taxonomy of positions on culture and mental health. We searched PubMed, PsycInfo, LILACS, Scopus and Sociological Abstracts to identify non-clinical psychosocial support interventions for first-generation immigrant CALD populations delivered by lay-health workers. Thirty-eight studies were included: 10 quantitative, 7 mixed-methods and 21 qualitative. Most studies were conducted in North America (n = 19) and Europe (n = 7), with few conducted in low-income countries (Tanzania and Lebanon, n = 3 each, Kenya [n = 1]). Studies often focussed on specific interventions (e.g. psychoeducation) for targeted populations (e.g. refugees, Latinx immigrants); multimodal interventions (e.g. psychological support and food distribution) for broad populations were less common. Thirty-five different outcome scales were identified across quantitative and mixed-methods studies, with most covering depression, stress and trauma. Most studies identified significant improvements for at least one psychosocial outcome despite interventions being relatively short in sessions. Findings from qualitative studies highlighted varied engagement with theory-informed models of service, and identified important barriers to non-clinical psychosocial support services, including precarious resourcing. Our analysis suggests most studies were underpinned by split-relativist frameworks and focussed on interventions aimed at helping clients navigate the eurocentricity and complexity of mainstream services. Recognising the eurocentrism of universalist frameworks, working from a culturally relativist position, prioritising social determinants of health and using models that centre clients, flexibility, context, culture and community are likely to ensure best practice for non-clinical psychosocial support interventions.
With the rise of Web 2.0 and online sex work platforms, it's important to understand the structural violence faced by online sex workers. Utilising data from an online forum, AmberCutie, and drawing on structural violence as a theoretical framework, we argue that platform capitalism enacts violence against online sex workers structurally, through algorithmic systems and precarious financial payment options embedded within platform interfaces. Platforms exploit workers through algorithms demanding intense competition, unpaid labour, and emotional and moral labour to remain visible to earn a living. This algorithmic bias disproportionately affects low earners, leading to emotional and financial struggles. Payment issues exacerbate economic precarity, as platforms sometimes withhold or refuse payments without explanation, or rely on third-party payment platforms utilising risky offshore bank accounts. Stronger labour protections and access to secure financial resources are necessary to address systemic barriers faced by online sex workers in the digital realm.
The challenges humanity collectively faces in the 21st century are unique in the modern history of our species in scope, scale, and complexity. The interconnectivity among our global dilemmas is increasingly apparent, and there is rising evidence of the potential for compounding and cascading impacts across our planetary systems, both natural and social. Facing a changing climate, rapid biodiversity loss, increasing rates of political polarization and violent conflict, and others challenges, we find ourselves at a critical juncture where the decisions we make as individual societies and as a global community will shape the trajectory of our species and our planet. With the urgency of concurrent social dilemmas and ecological crises, there have been trends in academic and scientific research to focus on possible negative or destructive outcomes and frame research findings to mobilize policy and action, often at the expense of oversimplifying complex and nuanced dynamics. However, the interconnectivity among social and environmental systems extends equally to the positive potentialities, and there is a need to complement existing research with a focus on building robust and sophisticated evidence at the nexus of peace and sustainability that can guide policy and practice to promote a better path forward for our shared world.
Violence against women has a great impact on health and the health system, they present a greater number of physical and emotional diseases. This phenomenon has been constructed under processes of invisibility and naturalization as a result of a patriarchal society. This work focused on exploring the effects of different forms of violence against women: in terms of health, physical as well as psychological. Under a qualitative methodology, the experience of eight battered women from rural and urban areas of the Mexican state was recovered of Tabasco. To do this, the interview was used through the autobiographical story technique. The findings show that women suffer different types of violence ranging from physical to economic, identified incidence of diseases, suffering and mental suffering caused by violence of any kind. On the other hand, the social constructions about what it means to be a woman in certain circumstances allow to justify the violence exercised by men, in addition in the production of subjectivities of the feminine gender a process of socialization prevails that reduces the woman to her traditional functions and it places it as the sole guarantor of identity.
This study explores the pervasive and multifaceted violence faced by women with disabilities in Nepal, focusing on the ways in which these experiences are shaped by intersecting social hierarchies, including those based on gender, caste, and socioeconomic status. Through 25 qualitative interviews conducted in the Kathmandu Valley, the research reveals the complex interplay between personal, structural, and cultural violence, drawing upon comprehensive violence theories and intersectional analysis. The findings indicate that these women are subjected to a range of forms of violence perpetrated by family members, community figures, and within institutional settings. Despite the advancement of Nepal’s policy framework in alignment with international disability rights instruments and the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the study underscores the discrepancy between existing legal provisions and the lived realities of women with disabilities. Systemic barriers, stigmatisation and inadequate support structures serve to increase their exposure to and susceptibility to violence, adversely impacting their health, well-being and personal development. This research calls for more targeted and inclusive strategies that prioritise the perspectives and needs of disabled women to ensure the global commitment to "leave no one behind" is upheld.
Why do some pastoralists join bandit groups in Nigeria? This conundrum is yet to be explored in the emerging scholarly literature on pastoral banditry in Nigeria's troubled northwest region. Whereas the upsurge in pastoralist‐related banditry has been predominantly explicated with the theoretical frameworks of ungoverned spaces and relative deprivation, the role of structural violence in some pastoralists' decision to become bandits has not received sufficient scholarly attention. Drawing on the analytical framework of structural violence first advanced by the Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, I contend that some pastoralists take to the composite crime of banditry as a consequence of the inegalitarian distribution of resources and power. Pastoralists resorting to banditry in the northwest region can therefore be considered as a rebellious response, albeit misguided, to the structural violence of everyday life―precisely, poverty and repression―in the Nigerian state that precludes them from meeting their basic human needs. To reverse the mayhem and to heal the broken communities in the banditry‐affected northern states in Nigeria, I argue that federal and state governments should not solely rely on a killing approach fixated on military warfare―or the surveillance of forests and remote areas―but must address the structural factors that nurture alienation amongst some pastoralists.
This article delves into the intricate layers of the Indian caste system, a deeply rooted social hierarchy that has persisted for centuries. Focusing on the stigma of untouchability faced by Dalits, a marginalised group within the Jati system, the study shifts its focus from direct violence to the structural violence inflicted through stigmatisation. Conducted in a rural village in Odisha, India, the research aims to uncover the covert agendas shaping societal attitudes. The study provides nuanced insights by comparing the experiences of touchability and untouchability among Dalits and non-Dalits within a specific time and space. The methodology employed in this research encompassed extensive fieldwork, interviews, and observations. The study addresses gaps in contemporary research through rigorous data collection and analysis, offering a more comprehensive understanding of the Indian Jati system. It delves into the multi-layered nature of untouchability practices within a society, revealing that even among untouchables, hierarchies exist. An essential aspect highlighted in the article is the significance of comprehending the unique village structures. The study emphasises that the position of a lower Dalit category in one village might translate to a higher hierarchy in another, underlining the contextual intricacies of caste dynamics.
Keywords:
caste system, Dalit, India, stigma, structural violence, untouchability
This article examines the complex and often conflicting forms of ‘peace’ in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, using a postcolonial critique to challenge the state’s top-down imposition of realist and neoliberal peace models. It begins by interrogating the concept of ‘peace’ in the context of the Brazilian State’s historical racialization and criminalization of favelas. The article develops four key arguments. First, it considers how militarized public security policies in the “War on Drugs” translate into ‘peace as war’ in the favelas. Second, it considers criminal governance as ‘peace as order’. Third, it critiques the Pacifying Police Program (UPP) as part of a neoliberal ‘tourist peace,’ prioritizing the safety of international visitors during significant events in 2014 and 2016. Finally, it highlights non-violent peace processes within the favelas, which aim to achieve a ‘positive peace.’ The article argues that different actors, including organized criminal groups, can produce various forms of peace, raising critical questions about whose peace is being pursued and at what cost.
This chapter reviews the diverse conceptualisations of peace in Peace Studies, with special attention to the effort to understand ‘positive peace’. It discusses the different perspectives of Peace Studies scholars on how peace can be more just and sustainable, and the difference between liberal and emancipatory perspectives on international and local efforts to achieve peace. The chapter then explores how Peace Studies has recognised the hybridity and adaptability of international and local peace efforts. The conclusion of this chapter provides a summary of key insights and suggests avenues for further research on the meanings of peace.
In Mexico, the phenomenon of disappearance resurfaced with the Drug War (2006) and in the state of Nuevo Leon it was mainly young men who disappeared the most between 2007 and 2012. However, since 2018, the disappearances of teenage girls increased. To analyze this situation, a study was undertaken in collaboration with the National Search Commission, whose methodology relies on analyzing the experiences of missing and found persons. With the support of the Local Search Commission in Nuevo León, a survey was sent to found persons between the ages of 0 and 29, interviews were conducted with missing and found persons, and files of the public child protection services were reviewed. This new methodology established the immediate and structural causes of disappearances and that the main factors of vulnerability are structural violence, mental health and addictions, gender violence and police abuse.
In 1940, the Monument to the Discoveries was erected in the Belém area of Lisbon. It was an ephemeral structure, an integral part of the Portuguese World Exhibition. It represented a stylised caravel with Prince Henry the Navigator at the prow, considered the greatest patron of the voyages by sea, undertaken by the Portuguese from the fifteenth century onwards. The sculpture did not just celebrate the Infante, who led a procession of navigators, cartographers, warriors, colonisers, evangelisers and chroniclers, regarded to be the heroes of the Discoveries. The ephemeral structure stood by the Tagus River until 1943, when it was removed from the site. However, in 1959, there was a decision to rebuild it, this time with durable materials. Throughout this period, the monument was a symbol of the Estado Novo dictatorship (1933–1974), presenting an ideologically and politically conditioned nationalist interpretation of part of Portugal’s historical past. In 1985, with an already consolidated democracy, brought about by the revolution of April 1974, the monument’s interior was renovated, and the Cultural Centre of Discoveries inaugurated, now being one of the most visited monuments in the country. In these times of post-coloniality, it has come under great popular scrutiny, becoming a contested heritage site, with some even advocating its destruction, because it symbolises a colonial and oppressive past and represents a historical and collective memory that is only partially told in the public space. This essay focuses on the history of this sculptural and architectural ensemble, seeking to show how it forms part of a heritage of memory, which can and should have various readings, and how it continues to contribute to the construction of Portuguese national identity.
This paper examines Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out, a play that explores the intersections of urban alienation, moral apathy, and the representation of violence. Inspired by a real-life incident, the play uses an offstage act of brutality—a woman’s rape—as its central event, challenging conventional depictions of violence on stage. Employing Johan Galtung’s framework of direct and structural violence, the analysis highlights how Padmanabhan critiques the urban middle class’s detachment and complicity through inaction. The play’s deliberate decision to keep violence unseen shifts focus to the ethical and psychological dimensions of spectatorship, invoking Laura Mulvey’s concept of the gaze to examine passive complicity. By juxtaposing physical and psychological violence, Padmanabhan underscores societal indifference as both cause and consequence of systemic failures. Through stark staging and unsettling soundscapes, Lights Out compels audiences to confront their own roles in perpetuating societal violence and moral paralysis.
EN This paper investigates how artistic education (AE) in Colombia, often marginalized in public schools, can both reinforce and challenge social inequalities. Through the lens of structural violence, this research explores the emancipatory potential of the AE class, questioning how it might become a space for promoting social justice and peace. The main objectives of the article were to identify a relationship between the arts, AE, and structural violence in Colombia, and to explore the idea that a quality AE class is necessary for everyone, transformative, and ideal for encouraging peacebuilding. The focus group methodology was used to gather insights from six participants with close relationships with arts and AE. The focus group transcription was then analyzed using thematic analysis. In the findings, two key concepts emerged: the Comprehensive Notion of Arts (CNA) and the Limited Notion of Arts (LNA); these contrasting views reflect broader societal attitudes toward art. It is concluded that poor or absent AE is a violent phenomenon because it reduces people's scope of possibilities and tools to imagine and build a different, less violent future, limiting Colombian society's capacity to transform its conflict.
Disasters disproportionately affect conflict-affected regions, where approximately two billion people reside, posing significant challenges for disaster risk reduction (DRR). This reality has increasingly spurred calls for violent conflict to be included in the global DRR agenda. However, consideration of peace has been lacking, despite that challenges for peace can distinctly impact capacities to set, pursue, and achieve DRR objectives. This study investigated how the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR) engages with peace through a document analysis, revealing three key findings. First, the SFDRR does not mention “peace,” mirroring its lack of reference to conflict. Second, while peace-related terms appear throughout the SFDRR in themes related to partnership and all-of-society approaches, this engagement is superficial. Third, the SFDRR’s approach is fundamentally problematic for advancing peace due to its avoidance of the complex social and political dynamics inherent to disaster risk and its reduction. The SFDRR united United Nations Member States in its ambition to “leave no one behind,” but has taken approaches that smooth over diversity rather than strengthen pluralistic connections. A radical, integrated DRR-peacebuilding agenda must take conflict as the new starting point and carve new pathways toward peace including through disaster diplomacy and environmental peacebuilding. By embracing the ambiguity between war and peace and addressing the root causes of risk, societies can cultivate peaceful interactions and collectively advance safety. This study concludes with recommendations for a global DRR policy that not only implicitly relies on peace but actively contributes to peacebuilding in the world’s diverse and divided societies.
The paper examines how prolonged armed conflict in Jammu and Kashmir affects both education and children. Utilizing a descriptive qualitative survey methodology, the study delves into the multifaceted experiences of the diverse educational stakeholders while analyzing the underlying factors that shape their perspectives. Empirical findings strongly suggest that while there is no universal formula for peace education in conflict contexts, a crucial element lies in establishing supportive classrooms that address the unique challenges experienced by students and teachers. The study's implications have broad significance, offering valuable insights for policymakers and humanitarian organizations seeking a deeper understanding of the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) faced by communities in conflict-affected areas. Implementing peace education at the school level can help alleviate the impact of conflict on students and teachers, but addressing the broader context of insecurity requires attention to political, security, social, and economic factors, with schools serving as a potential arena for specific aspects of peace education.
Introducción. Diversos obstáculos son enfrentados por mujeres académicas de educación superior, ante culturas y prácticas que afectan su productividad y bienestar. Objetivo. Se pretende analizar la problemática de género y violencia que viven mujeres académicas en instituciones de educación superior masculinizadas, en particular la presencia de mobbing y la revictimización ante protocolos de actuación insuficientes. Metodología. Se empleó un enfoque cualitativo etnográfico de investigación, con el uso de narrativas y entrevistas semiestructuradas, observación del clima institucional y la revisión de procedimientos dirigidos a la prevención y atención a la violencia de género, como estudio de caso. La interpretación de los datos fue a través de teoría fundamentada con enfoque constructivista. Resultados y discusión. A pesar de la existencia de normatividades y compromisos gubernamentales sobre la prevención y atención a la violencia en diferentes ámbitos, en las instituciones de educación superior y de posgrado, esta se continúa ejerciendo sin considerar los efectos adversos que viven las académicas, en su salud física y emocional y aún en su productividad. El acoso laboral entre iguales, también llamado mobbing es muy frecuente y es poco atendido a pesar de la formalización de denuncias al respecto, los mecanismos no son suficientes ni adecuados para su sanción y prevención además de la ineficiente operacionalización de éstos por no contar con personal calificado para ello y resistencias para llevarlo a cabo. La protesta organizada de mujeres a través de diferentes medios se ha hecho visible. Conclusiones. Son necesarias actuaciones que trastoquen privilegios e ideologías patriarcales que conducen a la reproducción de la violencia de género en sus diferentes manifestaciones en los espacios académicos. El mobbing puede ser sofisticado y disimulado, ocurre en lugares de trabajo donde se privilegia la racionalidad, de ahí que se hace necesaria la generación de conocimiento sobre el tema para su visibilización, sanción y prevención.
This article appreciates decolonization in education, positing bicultural pedagogy as peace pedagogy. It will encapsulate peace education, peace pedagogy, colonization, Indigenous rediscovery, and Indigenization of the curriculum (biculturalism) and then turn to the transformative practice of decolonization in education. The paper seeks to propose a conceptual bridging facet from five core Māori values: wairuatanga, manaakitanga, kotahitanga, whanaungatanga, and rangatiratanga, to Indigenous pedagogy and, finally, to peace pedagogy. The alignment of Indigenous pedagogy and peace pedagogy is an attempt to evaluate the potential of bicultural peace pedagogy as a decolonizing education. The paper finds congruence between Western peace pedagogy and several gaps related to practice and cultural goals. To assist other non-Indigenous knowledge workers (termed Pākehā in Aotearoa/New Zealand) in decolonizing education, this paper has sought to elevate aspects of peace culture that align with Indigenous practices/values.
This research paper explores the intersection of cultural violence in peace studies and social practices in India, aiming to provide a comparative analysis of these concepts. Drawing on Johan Galtung's framework, cultural violence is examined as comprising values, beliefs, symbols, language, and traditions that perpetuate or justify violence. In the context of India, various social practices, including caste discrimination, gender inequality, religious intolerance, and communal violence, serve as manifestations of cultural violence. Through a theoretical framework grounded in peace studies, this paper analyses the role of cultural violence in hindering peacebuilding efforts and perpetuating conflict. Additionally, it investigates the cultural, historical, and structural factors contributing to the perpetuation of harmful social practices in India. By comparing and contrasting cultural violence with Indian social practices, this paper highlights the interconnectedness between the two and explores strategies for addressing these issues in peacebuilding and social change initiatives. Through case studies and examples, the paper illustrates how cultural violence operates within specific social contexts in India and identifies successful interventions aimed at transforming these practices. Ultimately, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities of cultural violence and social practices in India and offers insights for promoting peace and social justice in the region.
This chapter examines the experiences of North Korean migrants in Seoul, South Korea, and New Malden, United Kingdom, focusing on their navigation of discrimination, hate speech, and the development of peacebuilding capacities. Utilizing autobiographical narrative inquiry, the study provides a dual comparative analysis of these two cities to understand the migrants’ experiences in different cultural and sociopolitical contexts. The concept of “bridging civic identities” is central and characterized by cosmopolitanism, interconnectedness, and imaginativeness, enabling the transformation of conflict-attuned civic identities into peacebuilding civic identities. In Seoul, migrants face significant discrimination rooted in the “division habitus,” a legacy of the Korean War, but develop strategies to overcome these challenges, leveraging educational opportunities and social networks. In New Malden, a cosmopolitan space, migrants reconstruct new civic identities, the so-called “cosmopolitan (civic) identities” and gain skills to adapt to British society, benefiting from the social welfare system. The chapter highlights the comparative analysis of these cities, revealing how those unique Northerners transform their civic identities, the conflicts they feel with belonging, and how they cultivate new capacities as bridge citizens.
This article is devoted to the analysis of ethical and conflict challenges related to the trouble with bias in neural networks. The necessity of a correct, scientifically based explication of the phenomenon of bias is postulated in order to build models correcting this problem as a necessary element of the software development process based on artificial intelligence algorithms. The history of the development of neural networks is considered from the origin of the idea of a mechanical organism to the construction of modern models of an artificial neuron. The most significant characteristics of modern neural networks are highlighted: architecture, weights and offsets, activation functions, inferences, and learning methods.A detailed description of natural language as a neural network learning resource is given, and programming in natural language is analyzed. The specificity of the natural language of the neural network as a set of linguistic practices reflecting the entire digitized experience of mankind, including stereotypes, inequalities, hate speech and other phenomena, ultimately producing the trouble with bias, is emphasized.Considerable attention is paid to the analysis of the phenomena of “politics classification”, “power discourse”, “cultural violence” in the context of the search for methodological foundations of natural language filtering and censorship strategies in the process of constructing a neural network.Separately, it is emphasized how the errors in neural networks are reflected in the existing ethical and conflict studies debates around the problem of artificial intelligence. It is concluded that the current assessment of the moral aspects of the problem does not imply granting neural networks the status of a moral agent and places the ethical expertise of the product on its developers. It is particularly noted that the conflict aspect of the trouble with bias lies in its recognition exclusively in relation to groups that have now acquired the “sensitive” status of discriminated against as a result of social conflicts.In conclusion, the paper substantiates the urgent need to optimize artificial intelligence in order to reduce the destructive potential of the trouble with bias, which necessarily implies the modification of social relations in the broader context of the struggle of excluded groups for the right to be recognized as discriminated against.
Examines the role of languages as carriers of structure and culture in European, Chinese, and Japanese societies. Language is considered to condition but not determine thought and to supplement other factors such as religion and technology in forming culture and structure, which in turn are reflected in language. Several differences are apparent among the languages examined. While the European languages endow space and time with relatively rigid and rather simple structures, there is considerable flexibility in these dimensions in Japanese. Chinese is more universal because it is more flexible in terms of space, time, and knowledge; and also in terms of relations to nature, to other human beings, and to the transpersonal. It stands out as the richest language family among the 3 compared. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)