"Language and Peace: Joining Peace Pedagogies and Peace Linguistics in Language Education"
Larisa Kasumagic- Kafedzic
Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellow, Cornell University
Associate Professor, University of Sarajevo  

Efforts toward peacebuilding in language education around the world have been gradual, diverse, and continuously growing despite a lack of systematic and comprehensive attempts to position the discipline of language pedagogy within the scope of peace education. This talk will explore the notions of peace linguistics within the field of (applied) linguistics and peace pedagogy within the general field of comparative education, their evolution, history, development, and diversification in connection to the fields of language teaching, language and culture pedagogy, and teacher education, where specific initiatives, frameworks, and practices for teaching about and for peace through languages will be illustrated. A particular emphasis will be placed on how and why of peace language teaching by revising some of the key contributions underpinning peace pedagogy that can be integrated into language education: critical pedagogy, intercultural pedagogy, inclusive pedagogy, reflective and democratic pedagogy, social justice pedagogy, nonviolence pedagogy, healing and reconciliation pedagogy, arts-based pedagogy, feminist/engaged pedagogy, participatory pedagogy, decolonial pedagogy, pedagogy of reconciliation and remembrance. A number of specific examples of peacebuilding strategies, activities, and didactic tools and materials from language classrooms, intercultural learning projects, and teacher education program from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s formal education setting will be presented. The talk will also discuss the interdisciplinary nature of several other projects implemented in the European context (ECML projects, Council of Europe), which focus on intercultural learning, critical cultural awareness, and diversity in language education, by creating linkages between language, culture, pedagogy, and relevant content on the one hand, and by integrating action research in language education as a methodological framework for critical reflection on the other. 

Bio: Larisa Kasumagić- Kafedžić, a 2003-04 Cornell University Hubert Humphrey Fellow Alumni, is currently a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellow at Cornell University. She is a visiting associate professor and through her research project “Teachers as Agents of Change: Education for Peace and Social Responsibility” she will collaborate closely with schools, teachers, and teacher educators in Ithaca and the region, while also providing various lectures and seminars on her expertise, experience, and research to Cornell’s community of students and faculty. She holds an MPS in International Development and Education from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in English Language Pedagogy and Intercultural Education from Sarajevo University. Larisa Kasumagić- Kafedžić teaches at the University of Sarajevo’s Department of English Language and Literature in the Faculty of Philosophy. Her research interests are in the fields of intercultural education, peace pedagogy, language education, teacher training, reflective pedagogies, and action research in teacher development. She is also the founder and a president of the Peace Education Hub, which was established at the University of Sarajevo in early 2020.

This event will be held in person in G25 Stimson and will also be streamed live over Zoom. Join us at the LRC or on Zoom.

The event is free and open to the public. Campus visitors and members of the public must adhere to Cornell's public health requirements for events.