| Abstrak/Abstract |
This paper reflects on teaching an Introduction to Peace Studies course at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in 2024, shaped by student protests over education fees in Yogyakarta and the genocide in Gaza. The course used drama, poetry, speculative writing, and privilege-based activities to foster critical thinking, emotional engagement, and challenges to hierarchy.
Using a dramaturgical framework, we examine the classroom as a performative space where pedagogy intersected with real-world struggles. Students negotiated peace and violence through embodiment, dialogue, and reflection, while protests outside the classroom added urgency and ethical dilemmas to their learning.
We argue that higher education functions as both a site of transformation and complicity in structural violence. Dramaturgy – through staging, scripting, and performance – served as an estrangement tool, provoking reflection for both teachers and learners. Grounded in the Indonesian context, this study also speaks to Global South debates on reimagining peace pedagogy in times of conflict. |
