Korean Peace and Unification Education Explored Through Teachers’ Lived Experience

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Global and Citizenship Education Through Language, Literacy, and Cultural Diversity (Table 7)

Abstract

In addressing the role of peace education in fostering culture of peace, coexistence, and critical awareness of injustices that sustain conflict, this study examines peace education in Korea within the context of the stringent national division and blockade since the Korean War ceasefire. Utilizing division system theory as a framework, which highlights structural and cultural violence (Galtung, 1996) stemming from the national division, this research explores teachers' perception of their practice against the divisive system. To this end, I employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) with Korean teachers involved in peace education. Through the research, I identified three key themes: transitions in Peace and Unification Education (PUE), daily peace in the face of social injustice, and civic engagement against social injustice.

Author

• Hyelin Kim, University of Georgia