PRAXIS: Critical reflections on violence, justice and peace vol 2

Praxis is born out of critical discussions and reflections on violence, justice, and peace, taking place in a classroom at Lund University in a course led by Barbara Magalhães Teixeira (shoutout!). It is the result of frustration linked to the current global state of affairs, as well as the colonial and patriarchal legacies and continued practices within the field we seek a place in. Mostly, it is created from our optimism and sentiments of solidarity in our quest to find viable ways forward and our aspiration to take concrete action in order to contribute to change. Each and everyone of us are students of global politics in some form. Whilst we are an international class, of various backgrounds, we also note that we are all students of the Global North and we acknowledge the perspectives, biases, and privileges which that entails. We do not always agree with each other on these topics, but what we do agree on, and what we strive for, is to create a space for discussions, to engage in critical reflections, and learn from both each other and others. We have different understandings of concepts such as violence, justice, and peace and our communal goal is to widen the debates on these matters in order to break past patterns of narrow conceptualizations. Praxis is our attempt to look beyond our worlds of imagination and to engage with broader critical peace studies and practices. This is our attempt to act, instead of to react.

We refer to Praxis as a creative, illustrative academic paper. It is filled with our reflections on violence, justice, and peace from wide-ranging perspectives. It includes critical reflections on the origins of peace research, case studies on conflicts as well as peace practices, in-depth examinations of various forms of violence, practical educational materials, and anything else we find informative, inspiring, or fun. We view the premise of our contribution in line with a feminist, critical approach that rather than attempting to once again write authoritative stories, make hard-edged conclusions, and decide what qualifies as valid knowledge, we partake in open-ended conversations and we hope to never quit doing so. With that in mind, our creation is also an encouragement, to listen and to learn. It is an invention to question our assumptions about the world and how it is allowed to be considered and studied.