Centre for Critical Peace Studies
University of Management and Technology Lahore
A Tentative Plan for Year 1 (2022)
Focus Areas for 2022
- Building Peace Studies Agendas in the South, imagining pluriversal peace
- Promoting Education for Critical Consciousness in Pakistan
- Building networks to impact education policies
Centre for Critical Peace Studies embraces a very broad definition of peace. Peace is viewed as a process and a struggle towards the mitigation of direct, structural, cultural as well as epistemic violence. We view epistemic violence as a key constituent of structural and cultural violence; hence it remains our main area of focus.
We invite researchers, teachers (especially Social Sciences and Humanities faculty), visiting scholars, doctoral candidates, graduate and undergraduate students, religious scholars, writers, journalists, artists and policy makers, who are interested in exploring the research areas listed below, to join our forum.
Kindly note that following is a tentative and flexible list of research areas we aim to focus. We have an open approach towards ideas, so the following research domains are not meant to be restrictive.
Research Domains
- Exploring avenues for decolonizing knowledge, power and being , imagining and collecting pathways towards Decolonial futures / Charting what decolonizing education/research/universities entail / Dilemmas and challenges of walking the Decolonial pathways and suggestions to overcome them
- Charting Fresh Agendas for Peace Studies ; Questioning universal peace agendas , imagining, developing, collecting, enacting pluriversal peace agendas
- Rethinking Social Sciences and Humanities Education Policies and Practices in Pakistan, the Muslim world and other parts of the Global South,
- Exploring/rethinking Islamic/ madrasa education/divisions in education in the Muslim world
- Exploring indigenous knowledge systems/ research methods, historical connections and encounters between people, ideas, civilizations
- Exploring , mapping questioning multiple forms of epistemic violence and epistemic injustice / proposing clear pathways to undo epistemic violence and injustice
- Issues of structural and cultural violence , marginalization, oppression
- Direct violence, war , genocide and the role of electronic, print, social media , cyber space in war, violence, conflict
- Prolonged conflicts including Afghanistan, Kashmir , Palestine
- Genocide, oppression including Muslims in Myanmar, China , non- Muslim communities within Muslim societies
- Issues of migrants , systemic discrimination, implicit and explicit racism
- Countering / Preventing Violent Extremism , Ideologies and Pedagogies of Oppressions , Ideas and Pedagogies of Liberation
- Issues of Critical Pedagogy/ Critical Peace Education/ Critical Peace Studies/ Critical Security Studies/ Human and Environmental Security
We also seek funding opportunities from sources that allow us the freedom to advance our work in our way.
What we seek at this stage;
a) Collaborations for our proposed projects – initially we are planning 1- 2 edited volumes.
b) Researchers , faculty members, students/scholars already working (or intending to work) in the aforementioned areas, may join our network ; where we can regularly discuss the works in progress , provide informed peer review, publish developed working papers and include these papers in our conferences / seminars/ webinars for the wider audience
c) Religious scholars are welcome on this forum to discuss avenues for collaboration and mutual learning.
d) Visiting scholars may join our programs/ seminars and research work
e) Writers, journalists, artists may contribute in their own unique ways. We shall be working on short videos, short writing pieces, possibly art exhibits for wider dissemination of ideas in creative ways.
Kindly note: We focus on change in the local context while we stand firm with the global network of scholars who seek change in their locations. The specific changes, we seek mostly relate to our location i.e. Pakistan/ Muslim world, our disciplinary domains i.e. International Relations/Peace Studies (Social Sciences in general) and our profession i.e. Higher education/ universities. So some of our programs may look Pakistan specific/ Politics and Peace specific but we respect, honor and support your struggles in your locations and your domains on this forum, as we seek pluriversal spaces for all.
Educational Avenues
The aim of CCPS educational programs will be nurturing critical consciousness in students and scholars at a wider scale. Towards this goal, we are planning three parallel activities;
1) Monthly webinars series titled ‘Dialogues on Epistemic Justice’, that highlights the work of critical, Decolonial scholars from multiple locations and disciplines. The dialogues are meant to generate debates on issues of epistemic justice specifically in universities of the Global South.
2) Monthly in person sessions with students and teachers from different institutions of Lahore (to be expanded later), titled ‘Dialogue and Action on Social, Political and Epistemic Justice’. These sessions will be co-learning spaces for students and teachers who shall collectively develop and present ideas/ research work / creative work around issues of political, social, economic or epistemic justice. Participants will select a problem that they would like to explore. It can be a personal problem, a community problem, a conflict, an idea, a connection that they find important. They shall identify and write down their problems in the initial sessions and then they will stay with them/ develop them/expand them, as they progress. Whatever ideas and methods they learn in the sessions will be connected to the chosen problems of the participants. The content of the discussions will be flexible, keeping in view the needs and suggestions of the participants, however the dialogues will try to centre the problems and perspectives of the South. The dialogues will introduce ideas of scholars like Dubois, Fanon, Freire, Iqbal, Rabindernath Tagore etc. Participants will also be introduced to Decolonial Research Methods.
The sessions are initially planned in person, possibly outside classrooms, in an open environment. However, interested students from outside Pakistan/Lahore may also be taken onboard via zoom. Possibilities of collaborative research/ creative work will be explored whenever possible. If possible, students from conflict prone areas e.g. Afghanistan, Kashmir may also be included in these sessions. At a later stage, efforts will be made to include madrasa students in these sessions as well.
3) For wider dissemination of ideas – Short videos in local languages (initially we shall do them in Urdu) about Critical, Decolonial Scholars, their ideas, worldviews and views on historical evolution of the modern world, will be made and disseminated through our social media channels.
Educational Programs with our Partners
In addition to the aforementioned activities, we are also engaging students and teachers in collaborative learning programs with our partner institutions;
- In collaboration with University of Toronto (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Seeds for Change), we are engaged in an innovative program titled ‘Teach beyond the Binary: Indigenous Experiences of Racism and Pedagogies of Oppression’. A large number of students from different parts of the world attend these sessions.
- In collaboration with Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, our students will be engaged in Peace and Conflict Studies Global Campus Program that includes students from conflict prone areas like Kashmir, Syria.
- We are also discussing partnership with UNESCO for one of their educational programs to prevent violent extremism.
Annual Conference (Fall/Winter 2022)
CCPS will organize an annual conference around the themes identified above. The conference will be a chance to present member students’ and teachers’ work, to a wider audience. The conference shall include students’ creative work exhibition. It will also be a chance to network with other academics, publishers, policy makers, and government officials. Based on the multiple works on epistemic justice developed and discussed on CCPS forum, specific policy recommendations for improvement of higher education, specially Social Sciences and Humanities education , will be forwarded to relevant policy makers.
Annual Meeting of the Advisory Board
During the Annual Conference, annual advisory board meeting will be held to review the progress of the Centre and discuss ways to move forward more effectively.
Publishing
Peace Periodical: An E Magazine to be published every two months
News and Updates, Policy Debates, Issue briefs, Introduction to Critical, Decolonial Scholars/ Concepts, Students activities/blogs
Working Papers: Working Papers of members, scholars will be published online.
Academic Publishing for the Global South (initial planning in year 1)
In the long run, the Centre of Critical Peace Studies aims to provide an authentic, accessible and alternative publishing outlet to the scholars working with Critical/Decolonial/Southern perspectives or on the problems concerning the South. An open access, authentic Journal of Critical Peace Studies can be initiated if adequate resources are available for this venture.
Dr. Fatima Sajjad
Director Centre for Critical Peace Studies
University of Management and Technology Lahore
Date: Oct 19, 2021.