Uncertainty, fluidity and occupying spaces in-between: Peace education practices in Mindanao, the Philippines

This chapter explores a post-structural approach to understanding and framing peace in a contextualized case study in Mindanao. Through the development of an alternative theory of peace incorporating both utopian and Derridean perspectives, which challenge concepts of liberal peace, it forefronts the open-ended promise of peace that creates opportunities to consider and engage peace differently. Emerging from this opportunity the chapter suggests an approach to peace education that forefronts occupying spaces in between, practicing uncertainty, and accepting fluidity as a way of evoking the promise of peace “to come”. The chapter concludes by illustrating these ideas through the specific case study of a community-run preschool created in partnership with Muslim volunteers and a Christian NGO. It demonstrates a type of non-formal/informal peace education orientated around community organizing and capacity building with attention to local understandings of peace.