Creating a culture of healing in multiethnic communities: an integrative approach to prevention and amelioration of violence‐induced conditions

Abstract

In this article, the author describes the nature and dynamics of the culture of healing and the prerequisites for its creation. The concept of the culture of healing emerged over the course of 7 years of implementation of the Education for Peace (EFP) Program in over 100 primary and secondary schools in the ethnically divided Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The process of change from conflict‐based to peace‐based ways of thinking and behaving in this multiethnic society, slowly and painfully emerging from a devastating civil war, is described and the dynamics of interface between a culture of healing and individual psychological processes are described. In the culture of healing, health is defined as a state of organic unity—wholeness, equilibrium, balance, and harmony—and healing as the process of creating unity in all aspects of individual and community life. At the core of this process is the essential transformation from conflict‐based to unity‐based worldviews—ideas, attitudes, relationships, and practices. The author describes and analyzes the empirical and research findings of the EFP‐BiH project and its relevance to the currently high level of global interethnic discord and conflict. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Peace-Based Education

“…• a culture of healing refers to an environment conducive to helping all members of the school community-students, teachers, administrators, support staff, and to the extent possible, parents/guardians-to gradually overcome the trauma they may have suffered, individually and/or collectively, as a result of their experience of conflict and/or violence. (Danesh 2008c) • a Culture of Excellence refers to creating an environment conducive to excellence in all aspects-academic, behavioral, ethical, and relationalof the lives of members of the school community.…”

“…In a sense, this country is still functioning within the parameters of its conflict-based worldviews. The second challenge is that with the eruption of wars and hostilities in different parts of the world, the sources of grants for the EFP Programprimarily various international granting agencies-have directed their focus on other regions with heated conflict (Danesh, 2007).…”

“…The details of the EFP curriculum; the dynamics of its introduction into all BiH schools (K-12) and now into increasing number of schools in Mexico and a small number in United States, Bermuda, and Canada; and the research and evaluation findings on this experiment are reported in a number of articles, book chapters, and the multivolume Education for Peace Comprehensive Integrated Curriculum Series. (For example, see Clarke-Habibi, 2005;Danesh, 2007Danesh, , 2008Danesh, , 2008a210, 2011, 2011aDanesh & Clarke-Habibi, 2007b: Close, 2011. )…”

“…The emphasis on peace is based on the fact that peace and education are inseparable aspects of civilization. EFP is a peace-based education program both with regard to its conceptual foundations and the manner in which it is implemented in the classrooms and the school as an integrated community (Danesh, 2006(Danesh, , 2008a(Danesh, , 2009. While not neglecting the need for training in peace-based approaches for conflict prevention and conflict resolution (Danesh & Danesh 2002a, b, 2004, EFP primarily focuses on helping students, teachers, staff, and parents/ guardians to become peacemakers by developing inner, interpersonal, and intergroup peace.…”

“…• human quest for equality, justice, freedom, and interconnectedness; and • human search for meaning, purpose, and righteousness. (Danesh, 2011a) The theory further holds that peace is the finest fruit of our individual and social maturation processes. Peace is the ultimate outcome of our transition from self-centered and anxiety-ridden insecurities of survival instincts and the quarrelsome, dichotomous tensions of identity-formation processes to a universal and all-inclusive state of awareness of our fundamental oneness and interconnectedness with all humanity and, in fact, with all life.…”