theories of peace and conflict and their relationship

THEORIES OF PEACE AND CONFLICT AND THEIR

RELATIONSHIP TO LANGUAGE (FRIEDRICH, 2007)

Camila Araújo, Felipe Roque, Joana Dresch, Nathalia Wichan, Norma Caldas and Vinicius Lima

PEACE

Problems in defining what is peace.

Languages around the globe have different words that can mean different kinds of peace: inner peace, the absence of war and social justice.

The concept of peace in Friedrich's book intends to merge all those definitions: “The exercising of freedom. As long as such freedom do not impair the freedom of others.”

PEACE

Negative peace is the absence of war. A state reached through diplomacy and negotiations.

Positive peace is achieved through the promotion of fair social conditions. It is more like a “peace building” than a restoration of peace.

These elements are also present in language's world. English is an example. It is considered capable of replacing other languages and it need to be “prevented” from doing harm. That is negative peace in languages.

PEACE

Positive Peace Through English can be achieved promoting pacific uses of English through:

Respect for the linguistic rights.

The maintenance of an ecology of language (in spite of using English as a global language).

The maintenance of cultural and linguistic diversity (the legitimization of different varieties of English).

Language education.

Negative Peace (In languages)

• An example of negative peace in language is the use of non-sexist terms and politically correct vocabulary.

• Changing the terms alone will not solve the problem if the social structures that perpetuate such inequality are not rebuilt.

PEACE AND LANGUAGE/ENGLISH

Positive Peace (In languages)

• If strong and just social structures were in place, restoring peace would not be an issue.

• Therefore, there is a strong connection between the pursuit of more equality and the establishment of fair social structures in the areas of human rights, ecological well-being and awareness through education.


Human Rights

Linguistic Rights: 1996 Declaration of Linguistic Human Rights (UNESCO)

Accepting and respecting linguistic varieties promotes linguistic human rights.


Economic hegemony and economic well-being

• The spread of English as a new form of imperialism.

• Linguistic Imperialism: The dominance asserted and mantained by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages.

• Linguistic Imperialism stands on the way of linguistic peace.


Can imperialism be considered from a linguistic point of view or, instead,

imperialism is a political, military and economic mechanism of dominance which

employs language simply as a tool?


Ecological Well-Being and Education

“The goal is to preserve not only birds in general, but endangered species in particular. Therefore, linguistically, ecological concerns should lead us also to work towards an

ecology of Englishes, Spanishes and other languages”

Achieving this balance depends on efforts. One of the most important is education.

The school curriculum for children can reflect a concern for language if topics such as language change, diversity and endangerment are addressed.


OFFSETTING VIOLENCE

Structural peace: abolishment of unjust and violent structures.

Cultural violence (Galtung, 1990): using aspects of culture (language, religion, ideology, arts, science) to legitimize direct or structural violence.

Linguistic violence: Acts against survival, well being, identity and freedom motivated by linguistic factors.

OFFSETTING VIOLENCE

Individuals or groups are often judged and discriminated because of their accent, dialect, proficiency or even the inability of speaking a certain language.

In most cases the variety or dialect is associated with lack of intelligence, limited education, laziness, inferior social status or poor economic conditions.

“Every day, around the world, individuals are told to change, ignore or suppress their

linguistic expression because of preconceptions or stereotypes.”

(P. Friedrich)

Education is fundamental to extend linguistic justice.

OFFSETTING VIOLENCE

OFFSETTING VIOLENCE

African American Vernacular (AAV) also known as Ebonics

The Southern variations of English in the USA

Hispanic accent of Latin American immigrants in the USA

French X English (Quebec, Canada)

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PEACE STUDIES

Language is an important element in peace process.

Search for a language that promotes peace or which unifies humanity (Tower of Babel analogy).

Creation of artificial languages to serve as an “neutral” international lingua franca (Esperanto and Volapük).

For long the idea of achieving understanding through language has appealed to philosophers, linguists, writers and teachers.

View that sharing language leads to more peace and tolerance.

“Men did not only understand each other, but they had an identical understanding of the world around them” (Henry Prais referring to the mythical pre-Babel wolrd)


English is considered the current lingua franca.

For many the spread of English is associated with political and cultural domination.

Peace linguistics: relationships between language, communication, education and peace.

Researches helped to understand conflict resolution, education is the essential vehicle to disseminate such knowledge.


Conflicts of the twentieth century boosted the study of peace within the social sciences.

World War I, World War II, Vietnam War, neo-imperialism, Cold War and globalization.

Peace education emerged to respond to “wholesale carnage during the twentieth century with nuclear bombs, genocide, holocausts and environmental damage” (Harris, 2004).


Need for studies that establish culture values, beliefs and attitudes towards peace.

Different cultures = different meanings of peace

Translation or even the sharing of languages cannot guarantee unity of thought.

The widespread use of international languages such as English brings the need to find models and practices that allow for coexistence of languages.


International initiatives to promote linguistic peace:

MOST (Management of Social Tranformation) from UNESCO

Linguapax

TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages)

Terralingua


PEACE LINGUISTICS AND PEACE SOCIOLINGUSTICS

Friedrich talks about distinctions between ways of looking at peace, referring to Gomes de Matos’ work “Learning to Communicate Peacefully”.

She also states another different way of looking at peace, which she relates to the peace that is negotiated trough the interaction among languages, language varieties and users of different languages and varieties.

PEACE LINGUISTICS AND PEACE SOCIOLINGUSTICS

Are connected and together can help create a relationship that is probably as old as the language itself

- ‘communicating about peace’ – central concern in peace education.

- ‘communicating peacefully’ – important focus for peace linguistics.

- ‘peace that is negotiated trough the interaction among languages, language varieties and users of different languages and varieties’ – chief importance to peace sociolinguistics.

Relationship between language and society

sociolinguistics = sociology + linguistics

ENGLISH AND PEACE: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

World Englishes:

To understand English and its peace promoting possibilities we should take into account the uses and the users of the language.

The study of English has been empowering people whose lives are affected by English from documenting varieties and arguing for the legitimacy of diverse linguistic expressions.

Peace trough language needs to be accepted as a viable alternative to the suspicion that global languages promote inequality and unfairness.


Critical sociolinguistics:

The denounce of English evils and its discouragement instead of using some of this energy to, otherwise, design a structure that would:

• Accept that the lingua franca roll is inevitable in this world scenario.

• Investigate the weight of English in peace (negative and positive potential).

• Propose both linguistic education and linguistic activism as ways to linguistic diversity and linguistic peace, in a world that needs a common language for practical purposes.


There’s proof that individuals have the power to offset the potential dangers of hegemonic languages.

There hasn’t been a movement that, instead of attacking English, establishes its real potential for peace.

Once one becomes aware of his role in promoting rights and education trough language, he becomes a potential agent of linguistic peace.


“Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone”

(R. Waldo)

We can conclude by this analogy that language is the result of a collective process of construction.

Globalization, the employment of lingua franca and the death of several languages are also collective processes.


IMPLICATIONS

To live in a world of respect for linguistic diversity, we need to change not only our vocabulary, but also the way we look at those around us.

The way to achieve the fairer social order we all need is trough peace-oriented linguistic education and other forms of peace education that work together.

IMPLICATIONS

“We need to make peace with languages before attempting to

make peace through them.”(P. Friedrich)

WORLD ENGLISHES

By the end of WWII English was elevated to an even higher status.

Latin American schools started adopting English to the foreign language curriculum. Overtime, linguistic borrowings became anglicized, indicating language contact and power.

The Concentric Circles model presents three main contexts of English use, organized according to the historical spread of the language.

The movement that has given English status is not complete.

WORLD ENGLISHES

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Austra

lia USANew

Zealan

dSouth Africa(arguably)

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The movement that has given English status is not complete

Expanding circle - result of the spread

of English as a language of

international communication

Countries in which English is the official or default official language

Countries where English is official but

there are other official and/or present

languages and where English fulfils

intranational purposes beside international

ones

colonies

Form

er

British andAmerican

Indi

a

Malaysia

Philippines

Nig

eria

Singapore

400 million

English suffers an inevitable change.

The use of the term “variety” as a political statement.

“Dialects” or “varieties” seen as inferior and sub-standard.

Author defends legitimization of multiple varieties of English.

WORLD ENGLISHES

Language purists:

Standard English superiority due to educational background and properties of the language.

Language variations are not accepted as a legitimate use.

Prescriptivism; preservation and restriction.

WORLD ENGLISHES

Defense of English variations:

The use of varieties to serve as a functional tool.

Language changes based on affective needs and concerns should be consider legitimate.

Social phenomena and socially agreed practices shape language’s variations.

Institutionalized varieties.

Understanding and knowing different varieties and cultural meanings within them: important to establish linguistic peace.

WORLD ENGLISHES

Globalization and varieties:

English is not used for the same purposes.

Centripetal force: brings users to a homogenized use of English.

Centrifugal force: originates innovation and language change.

Clash between the two forces causes diversity, changes and wider communication.

WORLD ENGLISHES

The users and uses of English around the world:

English is employed by many for specific functions and purposes.

Not all users, to fulfill their needs, will have native or native-like skills.

Therefore, different levels of engagement with the language on different realms is a reality.

WORLD ENGLISHES

English in education:

60% of all school students in Europe study English.

Tendency to teach certain courses in English in university.

Education through English permits a “membership” in a worldwide community.

Recommended to use English critically.

Educator’s awareness of the power of English.

Knowledge of English improves access to information.

WORLD ENGLISHES

English and the law:

Presence of English in legal systems of certain countries.

English predominance in international law.

WORLD ENGLISHES

English in the media:

Globalization allowed greater access to English

Open TV x Cable TV = class division.

CNN in Atlanta has versions in Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, etc.

Counteraction: the spread of English always means displacement and replacement of other languages.

WORLD ENGLISHES

English on the Internet

New linguistic rules.

Local languages will be affected by Internet.

Will English maintain its current status?

The speed of growth.

WORLD ENGLISHES

Literature in English:

28% of the books in the world are published in English.

A strong tradition of postcolonial literature has emerged.

English has become a significant presence.

Wide availability of English texts.

WORLD ENGLISHES

English in the workplace:

The teaching of business English.

Unspoken subtleties + cultural differences = clashes.

To promote peace: the understanding of cultural background of the parties involved.

Miscommunication.

WORLD ENGLISHES

English in Advertising:

Advertising has a close connection with English language.

There are four reasons accelerating the process of linguistic borrowing from English.

Advertisers have to weigh the risks and the potential gains of using the language.

WORLD ENGLISHES

Advertising Peace: English as the language of humanitariancampaigns.

Diplomacy:

Diplomatic negotiations can go to a different direction of what they intended due to divergent cultural values that are not shared even though they speak the same language.

The important role of translation.

Communicate national values in a constructive way is appropriate.

WORLD ENGLISHES

World Englishes and peace:

When dealing with two individuals from two different cultures there is always a kind of preferable English to use.

Relativizing the status of varieties according to its use.

WORLD ENGLISHES

Peace within the circles:

WORLD ENGLISHES AND PEACE

• inner circle (native speakers) do not want to lose control over their "own" language

• outer circle has ambivalent feelings towards English because there is a sense of domination and Globalization implied

- Ownership- Status- Language change

-Identity crisis- Tension- Harmonization

Expanding circle issues come from the fact that the language is totally new to them and the fact that they can apply their own twist into it.

Other problems concerning foreign speakers is how they often think they are inferior to native speakers.

759 million

colonies

Form

er

British andAmerican

Indi

a

Malaysia

Philippines

Nig

eria

Singapore

400 million

British Isles

Austra

lia USA

New Zea

landSouth Africa

(arguably)

400 million


Overall, native speakers need to accept that English is no longer in their possession.

Second language users need to overcome the colonialism and violence aspect from the past of the language.

Foreign speakers must lose their insecurity to use English as a tool they have acquired and not feel ashamed about it.

Peace, from the linguistic point of view, is intimately attached to association of cultures with languages and making them a weapon of communication and mutual understanding.


REFERENCES

FRIEDRICH, P. “Theories of peace and their relationship to language”. In: ______ Language, Negotiation and Peace: The Use of English in Conflict. London: Continuum, 2007.

______. “English around the world: varieties, users and uses”. In: ______ Language, Negotiation and Peace: The Use of English in Conflict. London: Continuum, 2007.

theories of peace and conflict and their relationship

Technology

peace negative peace

peace positive peace

concept of peace

inner peace

peace process

restoration of peace

peace building

theories of peace