Advances in Language and Literary Studies - ELT for Peace Education: Negotiating Ethnic and Cultural Plurality - Vol. 4 No. 1 - January 2013

Oct 15, 2026

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Multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity function as key indicators of social contingencies and the violence emerging in an increasingly globalized world. Minoritization continually disrupts the homogeneous, horizontal claims of the projected democratic liberal society, making solidarity situational and strategic while commonality is negotiated through social interests and political claims. Using UNESCO’s culture of peace vision, 70 trainee teachers from diverse socio-cultural and religious backgrounds were exposed to ELT exercises that opened new pathways for peace education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time8 min

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Abstract

1. Introduction

Advances in Language and Literary Studies Vol. 4 No. 1; January 2013 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia ELT for Peace Education: Negotiating Ethnic and Cultural Plurality Piku Chowdhury Satyapriya Roy College of Education AA-287, Sector-1, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700064, West Bengal, India E-mail: [chowdhury.piku@yahoo.com](chowdhury.piku@yahoo.com) Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.4n. 1p. 149 URL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.4n.1p.149](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.4n.1p.149) Received: 01/ 12/2012 Accepted: 03/01/2013 Abstract Multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity have assumed the status of the most charged signs characterizing social contingencies and resultant violence in the increasingly glocalized world today. Minoritization continually interruptsand interrogates the homogeneous, horizontal claim of the projected democratic liberal society. Solidarity turns out tobe situational and strategic while the concept of commonality is negotiated through contingencies of social interest and political claims. As Homi K. Bhabha points out in “Cultures in Between”- “How did we allow ourselves to forget that the nationalist violence between Hindus and Muslims lie just under the skin of India ’s secular modernity? ...We have entered an anxious age of identity”(p.59) . Experimenting with UNESCO’s vision of promoting a “culture of peace”through education, 70 trainee teachers from varied socio-cultural and religious backgrounds were exposed to ELT exercises that opened up new avenues ofpeace education. Keywords: Multiculturalism, Minoritization, Culture ofpeace, ELT 1. Introduction Language teachers like all other fellow humans thrive and operate in hard times against a perpetually evolving contradictory set of values. The world is torn apart with terrorism, ethnic conflict, social inequality and violent resistance and teaching can no longer be segregated as a detached and passive transmission of age old paradigms and knowledge. Multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity have assumed the status of the most charged signs characterizing social contingencies and resultant violence. Minoritization continually interrupts and interrogates the homogeneous, horizontal claim of the projected democratic liberal society and its homogenous curriculums. Solidarity turns out to be situational and strategic while the concept of commonality is negotiated through contingencies of social interest and political claims. As Homi K. Bhabha points out in “Cultures in Between”- “How did we allow ourselves to forget that the nationalist violence between Hindus and Muslims lie just under the skin of India ’s secular modernity? ...We have entered an anxious age of identity” (p.59) . English Language Teaching becomes a critical agency in this scenario homogenizing in philosophy and yet continually addressing covert interstitial paradigms. Teaching-learning in different contexts and at different levels, possesses contours and frontiers that are perennially interpenetrating and overlapping ina striking relativity with the social identities of the multi-ethnic and multicultural human elements, at a given time and context, remaining a locus of immense potentiality/possibilities. It continually refers to and engenders a sweeping variety of interacting agencies. The crisis emerges with the hegemony of a specific pedagogy, cardinally Western in essence, with scarce or no space for any other indigenous form of knowledge, being transmitted in various ways with an element of tough competition in what we call the global education market. The need to prepare the students for negotiating the plurality of ethno-cultural dimensions and associated beliefs and practices for a sustainable culture of peace emerges as a challenge. The Declaration of the Ministers of Education participating in the forty-fourth session of the International Conference on Education voiced a call to mainstream education for a culture ofpeace: Educ

FAQs

What role does minoritization play in the paper’s argument?

Minoritization continually interrupts and interrogates the homogeneous, horizontal claims of the projected democratic liberal society, shaping how solidarity and commonality are understood.

How does the paper link ELT with peace education?

It frames English Language Teaching as a critical agency and applies UNESCO’s “culture of peace” vision through ELT exercises to create new avenues for peace education.

What educational approach is described for preparing teachers from diverse backgrounds?

The study exposes 70 trainee teachers from varied socio-cultural and religious backgrounds to ELT exercises aligned with peace education goals.

Oct 15, 2026

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