Opening of Peace Education Hub and Marking the Week of Peace 2020

Peace Education Hub (PEH), which is part of the Centre for Scientific Research and Professional Activities of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo, was officially opened on the International Peace Day, 21 September 2020. Due to the epidemiological situation the opening was organised as a webinar which was attended by the Faculty of Philosophy representatives, academic partners of PEH from the University of Sussex (UK), University of Rwanda and University of Los Andes from Colombia, partners of PEH from the civil society sector such as forumZFD (BiH), Facing History and Ourselves (USA) and many other educators.

Opening remarks were given by the following participants: Assistant Professor Amir Duranović, Vice Dean for Research, International Academic Cooperation and Publishing of the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo; Associate Professor Larisa Kasumagić – Kafedžić, founder of PEH and the leader of its coordinating team; Judith Brand, Director of forumZFD (Forum Civil Peace Service) in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Michele Parente, Project Manager in forumZFD and Karen Murphy, Director of International Strategy at Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO) from the USA.  

The second session was devoted to reflections and experiences regarding the role of peace pedagogy in higher education and the presenters were the representatives of the PEH partner organisations – Dr Juliet Milican from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, Professor Francois Masabo from the University of Rwanda and Monica Isabel Almanza Marroquin from the University of Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia. They also spoke about their earlier collaboration with the University of Sarajevo within the larger project of peacebuilding pedagogies in higher education. Mirza Čohadžić, a student at the History Department, presented the research project of the students from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Colombia and Great Britain about the role of cultural objects in peace pedagogy as part of the formerly mentioned joint collaborative research project University Peace Hubs: Peacebuilding Pedagogies in Higher Education. At the end of the second session Dr Lejla Mulalić briefly introduced the Peace Education Hub, its activities and plans for future with special emphasis on research, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to peace education, teacher trainings and cooperation with institutions and organisations engaged in peace education. In the third session of the webinar Dr Sara Clarke Habibi from the University of Neuchâtel gave a lecture titled Education for Peace in BiH: Scoping New Horizons in Teaching, Education and Research which was followed by a brief discussion of all attendees.   

Peace Education Centre marked the week of peace by organising various activities, including the FHAO training, and it will continue to do so in the future.