Peace Knowledge
Peace knowledge is the foundation upon which all education and action pursuing peace
Betty Reardon, whose life work is the inspiration for launching Peace Knowledge Press, identified 4 components of the field of peace knowledge: peace research, peace studies, peace education and peace action. We consider these 4 components to be holistically interrelated, with each offering a distinct contribution to the knowledge base.
Peace research is the primary source of knowledge about the causes of war and the conditions of peace and justice. Peace research emerged in the 1950s out of the work of individual researchers, mainly in the social sciences, in various parts of the world, but mainly in Europe. Called in its early days, “polemology” and/or “irenology”, it formally took the generic name of peace research when the International Peace Research Association was established in 1964.
Peace studies is the interdisciplinary, university level academic study of information and literature on topics relevant to peace, most broadly conceived. The material studied are derived from various academic fields; international relations, political science, economics, anthropology, philosophy, theology, history, gender studies, and literature. The point of peace studies is to provide knowledge of various forms of violence and to consider proposals for overcoming them. Its origins lie primarily in critical approaches to international relations and political science.
Peace education introduces an emphasis on instructional methods and pedagogical approaches essential to facilitating personal and social change and transformation. Peace education is pursued in both formal and non-formal contexts, including but not limited to schools and universities, and peacebuilding and community settings.
Peace action refers to knowledge derived from practical and applied experience. It is knowledge produced in the actual day-to-day struggle for peace and justice.
*The above descriptions are adapted from:
Reardon, B. (1988). Comprehensive peace education: Educating for global responsibility. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Reardon, B. (2000). Peace education: A review and projection. In Moon, B., Brown, S. & Peretz, M.B. (Eds.). Routledge international companion to education. New York, NY: Routledge.
Management Team
Tony Jenkins
Founder & Co-Managing Editor
Tony Jenkins
Tony has significant experience designing and developing academic programs in peace studies and peace education including the MA Programme in Peace Education at the UN mandated University for Peace; Peace Studies Major and Minor at The University of Toledo; and Graduate Certificate Programs in Peace Education at Teachers College, Columbia University (NYC and Tokyo campuses). In 2019, in recognition of his curricular work with World BEYOND War, Tony received the Educators’ Challenge Award and People’s Choice Award from the Global Challenges Foundation in partnership with the London School of Economics Institute of Global Affairs.
His applied research is focused on examining the impacts and effectiveness of peace education methods and pedagogies in nurturing personal, social and political change and transformation. He is also interested in formal and non-formal educational design and development with special interest in teacher training, alternative approaches to global security, systems design, disarmament, and gender.
Tony has taught graduate and undergraduate peace studies and peace education at: Teachers College Columbia University (New York and Tokyo); Jaume I, Castellon, Spain; University for Peace, Costa Rica; The University of Toledo, Ohio; and Georgetown University, George Mason University, and George Washington University, Washington, DC.
Kevin Kester
Co-Managing Editor
Kevin Kester is Assistant Professor of International Education and Global Affairs cross-appointed to the Department of Education, Graduate School of Education, and School of Global Affairs at Keimyung University in Daegu, South Korea. Prior to Keimyung, he was Postdoctoral Research Associate and Director of Studies for Education at Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, and Visiting Scholar at Yale University. He is a regular consultant with national and international organizations, including the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; United Nations University for Peace Africa Centre; and the Korean Educational Development Institute. He publishes widely and serves on numerous editorial boards of scholarly journals, including the Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies; In Factis Pax; and the Journal of Peace Education. His most recent book is The United Nations and Higher Education: Peacebuilding, Social Justice, and Global Cooperation for the 21st Century, published by Information Age Publishing in their Peace Education Series in 2020. He holds a PhD in Education, Globalization and International Development from the University of Cambridge.
Editorial Board
Team members coming soon!
Advisory Board
Betty Reardon
Advisor
Dr. Betty A. Reardon has made significant and lifelong contributions to peace education in the United States and abroad. The global peace education movement has been profoundly influenced in substance and methodology by her influential publications, her ability to create and sustain successful institutions and networks, and her personal leadership.
The founder of the Peace Education Center at Columbia University, Dr. Reardon has influenced thousands of teachers and students in the methods of and approaches to peace education. She has taught at universities around the world, and has broad experience both in formal school settings and in non-formal community-based education programs. During her long career, Dr. Reardon has advanced peace and global citizenship education through an integrated focus on human security, sustainable development, human rights, ecology and gender.
Her most significant professional achievement—establishing the International Institute on Peace Education— received special honorary mention from the UNESCO Peace Education Prize. Dr. Reardon is the winner of the 2010 Sean McBride Peace Prize awarded by the International Peace Bureau in Geneva, among other accolades. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013, Dr. Reardon is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in peace education theory and pedagogy.
Dale Snauwaert
Advisor
Dale T. Snauwaert, Ph.D. is Professor of Philosophy of Education and Director of the Center for Nonviolence and Democratic Education in the Judith Herb College of Education at The University of Toledo. He is the Founding Editor of In Factis Pax: Online Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice.
His research interests include political philosophy, climate ethics, democratic theory, and the philosophy of peace and democratic education. He teaches courses in
Janet Gerson
Advisor
Janet Gerson (Ed.D. Columbia University), peace researcher and peace educator, is Education Director, International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE). She is the winner of the 2014 Peace and Justice Studies Association Graduate Student Paper Award for her dissertation Public Deliberation on Global Justice: The World Tribunal on Iraq. She was Co-Director of the Peace Education Center, Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City (2001- 2010) where she taught peace education and conflict courses. Specializing in political theory, peace education and conflict processes, she has worked internationally as a conference programming coordinator and consultant, curriculum designer, mediator, presenter, and educator
The IIPE & GCPE
Peace Knowledge Press is an imprint of the International Institute on Peace Education (IIPE) and the Global Campaign for Peace Education (GCPE). All proceeds from Peace Knowledge Press support these two global initiatives in peace education.
International Institute on Peace Education
IIPE
The IIPE is a weeklong residential experience for educators and scholars hosted in a different country every other summer. The Institute facilitates exchanges of theory and practical experiences in teaching peace education and serves to grow the field. In serving the field, the IIPE operates as an applied peace education laboratory that provides a space for pedagogical experimentation;
Held annually at various universities and peace centers throughout the world, the IIPE is also an opportunity for networking and community building. that has spawned a variety of collaborative research projects and peace education initiatives at the local, regional, and international levels. The International Peace Bureau, in nominating IIPE for the 2005 UNESCO Peace Education Prize described it as “probably the most effective agent for the introduction of peace education to more educators than any other single non-governmental agency.” The objectives of each particular institute are rooted in the needs and transformational concerns of the co-sponsoring host partner, their local community, and the surrounding region. More widely, the educational purposes of the IIPE are directed toward the development of the field of peace education in theory, practice, and advocacy.
Global Campaign for Peace Education
GCPE
GCPE is as a non-formal, international organized network that promotes peace education among schools, families
The GCPE seeks to foster a culture of peace in communities around the world. It has two goals:
First, to build public awareness and political support for the introduction of peace education into all spheres of education, including non-formal education, in all schools throughout the world.
Second, to promote the education of all teachers to teach for peace.