Enemy Friends: Schooling, Conflict and Peace in the Southwestern Pacific

Book Abstract

Youth in Bougainville and Solomon Islands face challenges familiar to young people in post-conflict contexts everywhere. They must come to terms with the violent past of their parents’ generation while learning how to live with members of opposing “sides.” "Enemy Friends" describes how students and their teachers form connections to the past and each other that cut through the forces that might divide them. Thrown together in every aspect of daily life at boarding school they learn about and train themselves in cultural practices for memorialising violence that encourage individuals to refuse to talk about the past. In the process they discover broad similarities amidst significant cultural diversity. These similarities in their cultures are in fact broader lessons from their schooling experiences, which teach that while relationships might not be inherently peaceful, peace and reconciliation are almost always attainable. David will present an analytical framework with potential use across the global south and findings that illustrate the creativity of students and teachers as they engage with education policies. He therefore provides an important addition to assessments of schooling that view education’s contribution to transitional justice, peace-building, and development primarily through state-driven reform to the content of curricula or style of teaching.