So 2020 has turned into the year of change. On 2 June we started another Peace Lab, but this time all the teaching had to be online. How do you go to Kosovo online? It's happening. We have more meetings than usual planned because we save on travel time. The students and I are bitterly disappointed that we can't go to Kosovo in person, but we will go one day. We've promised ourselves. And in the meantime, we're zooming in and out and all around, exploring how theory meets practice, and meeting with UN, EU, statebuilding, grassroots, and lots of different groups...virtually.
There will be blogposts from the students about their impressions and what the pedagogic geeks among us call Experiential learning.
All this is happening while protests in The Netherlands and elsewhere push for deeper engagement and structural change regarding racism and discrimination. Add the insecurity of climate change and fear and uncertainty around a global pandemic and we have a perfect storm for change. But that's another story. If you are curious about what you can do, however, please visit my Chief Diversity Officer (of the University of Amsterdam) blog here.
I'm very proud of this year's Peace Lab students, showing up, doing the work, engaging with issues of social justice, transitional justice, just justice. This just might be...the best class yet. (I can hear Peace Lab alums around the world crying out in dismay.)
Please follow our blog. Tell others to follow it. And join us on an unforgettable journey during an unforgettable time. We'll be in Kosovo virtually, studying peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding until 19 June. And all the while the students will be working on their projects. Stay tuned!
Kind regards, Anne
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