عنوان

Building a Culture of Peace: The Long-Term Effects of Encounter-Based Peace Education with Pakistani Youth

Number

TL50739

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Building a Culture of Peace: The Long-Term Effects of Encounter-Based Peace Education with Pakistani Youth

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Cromwell, Alexander

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Hirsch, Susan F.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

George Mason University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2019

Text of Note

427 p.

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

George Mason University

Text preceding or following the note

2019

Text of Note

This dissertation examines four peace education programs involving Pakistani youth to explore the long-term impact of encounter-based programs on youth in conflict settings. Programs assessed included the Benjamin Franklin Summer Institute with South and Central Asia, the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program, the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program, and Study of the United States Institutes. All four programs brought high school or undergraduate students from across Pakistan to the United States for one to ten months. Through interpretivist research involving interviews, focus groups, and participant observation of alumni and staff based in Pakistan, the study explored how three theories of change-shifts in consciousness, culture of peace, and building bridges-accounted for participants' long-term transformations. It also measured participants' contributions at the community, or "meso", level, showing how individual transformations impact a broader culture of peace. The dissertation builds on previous research to argue that the approaches peace education programs take affect both the longevity of participants' transformations and the impact these programs have beyond initial program alumni. The programs' focus on alumni action, with their emphasis on shifts in consciousness in addition to building bridges, participants planning follow-on projects in their communities, and supporting alumni upon their return, led to these effects. The finding that participants modeled their projects after the program processes that facilitated their own transformations further supports this conclusion. However, alumni were unable to articulate how their community action linked to a broader culture of peace, illustrating that programs needed to provide participants with tools for understanding how interventions on multiple tracks can lead to societal peace.

Subject Term

Developmental psychology

Subject Term

International relations

Subject Term

Peace studies

Subject Term

Pedagogy

Subject Term

South Asian studies

Cromwell, Alexander

Hirsch, Susan F.

George Mason University

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y