From September 21st to October 8th, 2020 our course ‘Introduction to Peace and Development Studies’ was running on the invitation of the interdisciplinary MA program in Peace Studies at the ‘UNESCO Chair for the Philosophy of Peace’, in Castellón, Spain, at University Jaume I.
In this course, we reflected on coloniality and its profound effects on exploitative economic and political structures that lay at the roots of poverty and organized violence. Decolonizing strategies are thus of crucial importance, as the dominant ideology of development divides the world into developed and undeveloped parts and thus includes a misguided valuation. In the course, we engaged in ethnographic research to contribute to a better understanding of cases of violence without endangering our informants and by having their voices heard.