The Mir Centre for Peace: an exploration of building social justice in the community
Date
2017-07-24
Authors
Robbie, Sarah Layla
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Abstract
This study explores how the Mir Centre for Peace community programmes in Castlegar, BC, respond to the calls from critical and feminist perspectives in adult education toward social justice. These perspectives call for conscientization, democratization and active citizenship, personal and social transformation, emancipation and empowerment. They also call for processes that use the arts, creativity and imagination, and pay attention to issues such as gender, race, class and the environment. Lacking from these calls is attention to peace, particularly how it is understood and taught, and in areas where a relative peace seems established.
To conduct this study, I used a case study design that consisted of five semi-structured interviews with study participants who were involved at the Mir Centre as educators/facilitators, organisers, advisory board members, or a combination of these roles. I also used content analysis of relevant documents found on their webpages, and my participatory observation from nine of their events held during the 2015-2016 year. Through these I glean how this centre organises, educates, and acts for social justice and for peace.
Four areas emerged as significant to the literature in critical and feminist perspectives in adult education. These are their attention to reconciliation as a practice of building peace, their attention to ‘place’ as a teaching tool, how they integrate and pay attention to spirituality, and how they construct ‘peace’ as an orientation that includes ‘conflict.’ Recommendations based on my understanding of the calls from critical and feminist adult education are also made to the Mir Centre.
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Social Justice, Peace Education, Adult Education, Reconciliation, Spirituality, Transformation, Community Education