Systemic (Indirect) Justice Conflicts

Conflict and violence may be direct (visible) or indirect (systemic).  While the teachers and students in our research were very concerned about direct and interpersonal conflict, students (in all schools and countries) also demonstrated clearly in focus group workshops that they recognized systemic forms of harm rooted in injustice. Systemic violence includes cultural and social-structural equity dimensions that often reinforce each other.  Cultural violence means biased, demeaning beliefs, attitudes, Othering and exclusion of people with particular identities — such as racism, sexism, and xenophobic or nationalist enemy narratives.  Structural violence is systemic inequity (unfairness) that advantages populations at the top of the social hierarchy and disadvantages populations found lower in the hierarchy — such as injustice leading to persistent poverty, social class discrimination, and unfair distribution of resources.  Young people in our research were very concerned about in-groups and out-groups (cultural exclusion), and very concerned about unfair relations between haves and have-nots (social-structural inequity).

A few of the lessons that teachers and students described experiencing addressed indirect forms of conflict and violence (see Peacebuilding Lessons Infused into Curriculum Practice for examples).  Many students said that they wanted more opportunities to study these difficult conflicts and harms, and ways of repairing them, to move their communities toward durable peace.