Education, Justice, and Violence: “They got money for wars, but can’t feed the poor”

At any point in time, one can acknowledge that the potential for global citizens to identify and act against oppression has always, and continues to exist. However, the translation of that potential into a consistent and effective reality demands intention and action. Across multiple nations, independent and collaborative declarations, constitutions, and institutions were created to guide humanity along a trajectory that, theoretically, protects “inalienable human rights,” especially while facing upheaval. Such levers have incrementally evolved in ways that acknowledge and expand rights to marginalized groups, thus, illustrating informed, intentional, and targeted change processes – not accidental. The quoted text in the title of this call is a line from Tupac Shakur’s song, “Keep Ya Head Up,” where he poignantly speaks about governments and institutions charged with caring for the people, but instead, they fund structural violence and murder while simultaneously ignoring the social needs of its community members. The point in time at which this popularized lyric was released: 1993. To what extent is this sentiment relevant in today’s global society?This special issue examines how education, justice, and structural violence impact one another’s policies, processes, and outcomes across local, national, and global contexts. Education is acquired through formal, non-formal, and informal mechanisms and is referenced as non-neutral. Arguments declare that, on one side, education facilitates conformity to ruling class dominance. When dominance is aspirational, socialization for identity-based supremacy becomes priority, breeding ideologies such as genocide, racism, war, classism, militarism, and settler colonialism. Embedded within ruling class dominance, education systems are influenced by these same political, economic, and social structures that (1) breed the aforementioned ideologies and (2) systematically influence laws, funding formulas, governance arrangements, disciplinary dogma, curricular standards, accountability systems, and employment markets. Historical and contemporary outcomes of this entanglement continue to illuminate cultures of power that advantage some identities while oppressing others.Contrastingly, the other side of education discusses the cultivation of participatory freedom practices. This argument requires the intentional prioritization of philosophical and pedagogical approaches that equip learners with abilities to generate social and transformative justice for their societies. We can attest to the internationalization of structural violence, but can we attest the same for structural practices of freedom policy, education, and training across a learner’s lifespan? Acknowledging inextricable links between external systems and structural violence commands attention to ways in which societies have (1) worked towards abolishing harmful systems, (2) worked to leverage and transform harmful systems, and (3) worked externally to ruling class systems to create popular and guerrilla-based systems all to benefit education and justice.We seek deeper structural analyses that illuminate the interaction between structural forces and liberatory education. Submissions should clearly articulate actionable strategies for transformation. Contributions that engage CRT, intersectionality, political economy, un/decolonizing frameworks, and systems sciences are encouraged. We invite a broad range of manuscript types, including policy analyses, empirical research, case studies, and practice-based innovations grounded in evidence. We highly encourage methods leveraging art, culture, and that center lived experiences of those highly impacted by structural violence. We acknowledge that peer-reviewed publications are influenced by structural forces and are committed to using this platform to interrogate from within. Topic editors: Dr. Trinidad Jackson, Monica L. Wendel, Teri E. Lassiter Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78961/education-justice-and-violence-they-got-money-for-wars-but-cant-feed-the-poor