The pedagogical implicits of a culture of war. Possible educational directions for their deconstruction

Abstract

The ongoing serious Russian-Ukrainian conflict makes the need to address the issues of war and peace education even more urgent. National and international political agendas identify precisely in education a fundamental tool to promote a culture of nonviolence, but also to form new generations capable of inhabiting the Earth from complex, ecological and ecosystemic looks. This is a difficult goal to think of as achievable if one trivially looks at the data coming from the MIL€x Military Expenditure Observatory, which recorded a growth for Italian military spending in 2022, and if one considers that our country ranks last in Europe in terms of public spending directed to education and culture. This paper aims to identify some cultural and pedagogical motivations, often implicit, that nurture the culture of war and explore possible educational directions for its deconstruction.