Abstract
In contemporary societies, where children continue to be recruited as soldiers, treated as disposables, placed in chain-link cages and dying for lack of water and food, we ask what role education should play in contesting this type of dehumanization and normalization of violence against children? How can our educational efforts contribute to the emancipation of these children? This essay aims to reflect on the critical role that education should play in the traumatic context of war. Inspired by Paulo Freire’s liberating pedagogical practice and Latina liberation theology, this chapter proposes some ways in which we can participate in the process of physical, social, psychological, and spiritual healing that children affected by the traumatic experiences of armed conflict need to undertake. This joint effort between children and adults will reinvigorate children’s resilient ability to help them overcome their traumatic circumstances and enhance their capacity to hope and dream.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See both documents: the Convention of the Rights of the Child at https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58007.html and the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict at https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/option_protocol_conflict.pdf.
- 2.
The angel of history, as Benjamin refers to it, not surprisingly, is depicted as male. See the end of this chapter for another perspective on how a female angel reacts before the devastation and the debris before her.
- 3.
My theological approach is informed by Liberation Theology and Latina theologians such as Elsa Tamez, Ivone Gebara, Nancy Cardoso, Maria Clara Bingemer, Tania Mara Sampaio, Nancy Bedford, Ada Maria Asasi-Diaz, and Wanda Deifelt, among others. In the context of this chapter, I am drawing more specifically on the work of Elsa Tamez (2011) as she discussed the armed conflict in Colombia.
- 4.
I coined the term “kid-dom” of God in light of Jesus’s invitation to all people to receive his message as children do and in recognition of the active role of children as full and equal participants of this new community as it appears in Mark’s narrative. I was inspired by mujerista theologian, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz who suggests the word “kin-dom” to describe the community of faith as the family of God in which we are all kin. Her use of this word challenges the traditional interpretation of the scriptural view of a Kingdom of God as hierarchical and elitist (1992, 116).
References
Arendt, Hannah. 1993. Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought. New York: Penguin Books.
Bellis, M., and Abigail Zisk. 2014. The Biological Effects of Childhood Trauma. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 23 (2): 185–222.
Benjamin, Walter. 1968. Theses on Philosophy of History. In Illuminations: Essays and Reflections, ed. Hannah Arendt, 257–258. New York: Schocken Books.
Brueggemann, Walter. 2001. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Edwards, Carolyn, Lella Gandini, George Forman. 1998. The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach. Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing.
Ellacuría, Ignacio. 1993. The Crucified People. In Mysterium Liberationis: Fundamental Concepts of Liberation Theology, ed. Ignacio Ellacuría and J. Sobrino, 580–603. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Freire, Paulo. 1997. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.
———. 2004. Pedagogy of Indignation. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
———. 2007. Pedagogy of Hope. New York: Continuum.
Giroux, Henry. 2000. Stealing Innocence: Corporate Culture’s War on Children. New York: Palgrave.
———. 2014. The Violence of Organized Forgetting. Thinking Beyond America’s Disimagination Machine. San Francisco: City Lights.
Isasi-Dias, Ada Maria, and Yolanda Tarango. 1992. Hispanic Women: Prophetic Voice in the Church. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
McLean, Sara. 2016. The Effect of Trauma on the Brain Development of Children. Australian Institute of Family Studies CFCA Practice Resource, June, 1–15. https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/sites/default/files/publication-documents/cfca-practice-brain-development-v6-040618.pdf.
Myers, Ched. 2000. Biding the Strong Man: A Political Readings of Mark’s Story of Jesus. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Perry, Bruce D. 2007. Stress, Trauma and Post-traumatic Stress Disorders in Children. http://www.traumaandlearning.org/academic-articles.
Poling, James. 2003. Render unto God: Economic Vulnerability, Family Violence, and Pastoral Theology. Saint Louis, MO: Chalice Press.
Reid, Barbara. 2007. Taking up the Cross: New Testament Interpretations Through Latina and Feminist Eyes. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Tamez, Elsa. 2011. The Conflict in Mark: A Reading from the Armed Conflict in Colombia. In Mark, Texts @ Contexts Series, ed. Nicole Duran, Teresa Okure, and Daniel Patte, 101–125. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
UNICEF. 2003. Guide to the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. New York. https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/option_protocol_conflict.pdf.
———. 2017. Latin America & the Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO). Regional Office Annual Report. www.unicef.org/about/annualreport/files/LACRO_ROAR_2017.pdf.
Vena, Osvaldo. n.d. Systemic Violence Against Children As a Catalyst for Cultural Biblical Criticism. Unpublished Essay.
Vizenor, Gerald. 1999. Manifest Manners: Narratives on Postindian Survivance. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Junker, D.B.A. (2019). Education in Resistance to Child Soldiering: A Latina Liberation Theology Perspective. In: Willhauck, S. (eds) Female Child Soldiering, Gender Violence, and Feminist Theologies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21982-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21982-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-21981-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-21982-6
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)