Educating for Justice

EDUCATING FOR JUSTICE THROUGH PEACE was a series of webinars with the objective to share stories of educators from around the world who were working towards a world of nonviolence and peace. This webinar series was co-produced by IGINP Canada and Jai Jagat.

BACKGROUND
In the spring of 2020 when the global pandemic became the reality for much of the world, many of the educators had to move their classrooms online. A group of educators in Edmonton, Alberta who had been incorporating peace and nonviolence into their practice wanted to share their experiences of pivoting online with other educators. They started working with Jai Jagat, the global movement promoting peace and nonviolence based in Madurai, India. The result of a webinar broadcast via Zoom on June 13, 2020 featuring three teachers who shared their methods and techniques with other teachers.

From this initial one-off webinar, we saw a growing interest in continuing the conversation on the role of education in promoting peace and nonviolence. With Reva Joshee from the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation of World Peace and IGINP Canada as the lead facilitator, a working group of approximately 20 educators from Canada, the US and India was formed. The result of a series of webinars featuring dialogues on education for peace and nonviolence.

The 2020/21 webinar series

Between June 2020 and March 2021, seven webinars were broadcast live on Zoom featuring (scroll down to watch the recordings of the webinars):

Slow peace: Methods and techniques for teachers on Saturday June 13, 2020;
Educators’ experiences, practices and thoughts on promoting peace and nonviolence in the classroom on Sunday September 27, 2020;
Practicing peace in education on Sunday October 18, 2020;
Speaking through peace: A conversation on approaches to education based on Gandhian and Islamic principles on Sunday November 29, 2020;
Critical dialogues for justice and peace on Sunday December 13, 2020;
Critical pedagogy of the imagination on Sunday January 31, 2021; and
Radical movement on Sunday March 7, 2021.

March 7, 2021 — Radical movement

Panel 1 — Indigenous Artists with Carolyn Dunn (playwright) and Dakxin Bajrange (Director, Budhan Theatre)

Panel 2 — Dance Activism with Anindo Marshall—Dunham (Teacher and Director of Adaawe), Ananya Chatterjea (Director of Ananya Dance Theatre) and Anabella Lenzu (Director of Anabella Lenzu Dance/Drama)

Panel 3 — Embodied Leadership with Deborah Heifetz (Co-founder/Director of BraveHearts International, special advisor to the Crisis Management Team of the Israeli Police) and Judy Gantz (Director and Founder of the Center for Movement Education and Research)