PEACE & LOVE

A. Singleton

Andrea R. Jain

Peace Love Yoga analyzes growing spiritual industries and their coherence with neoliberal capitalism. “Personal growth,” “self-care,” and “transformation” are just some of the generative tropes in the narrative of these industries. The book illuminates the power dynamics underlying what the author calls neoliberal spirituality, illustrating how spiritual commodities are rooted in concerns about deviancy, not only in the form of low productivity but also forms of social deviancy. The book, however, does not just offer one more voice bemoaning the commodification of spirituality as a numbing device through which consumers ignore the problems of neoliberal capitalism or as the corruption or loss of “authentic” religious forms. Instead, it asks what we should make of subversive spiritual discourses that call on adherents to think beyond the individual and even out into the environment, claims to counter the problems of unbridled capitalism with charitable giving or “conscious capitalism,” challenges to the imperialism behind the appropriation and commodification of products from yoga to mindfulness, calls for women’s empowerment, and efforts to greenwash commodities, making them more environmentally “friendly” or “sustainable.” Rather than a mode through which consumers ignore, escape, or are numbed to the problems of neoliberal capitalism, many spiritual industries, corporations, entrepreneurs, and consumers, the book suggests, do actually acknowledge those problems and, in fact, subvert them; but they subvert them through mere gestures. From provocative taglines printed across T-shirts or packaging to calls for “conscious capitalism,” commodification serves as a strategy through which subversion itself is contained.

C. Eroukhmanoff

This article explores the affective responses to terrorist attacks in Western Europe, visually manifested through the memes ‘Je suis Charlie’, ‘Peace’, and ‘I heart MCR’ . By invoking the universal peace and solidarity signs, these responses mobilised an iconic repertoire that framed the responses as peaceful retaliations to terrorist attacks in solidarity with the victims and in that respect, helped to visualise and foster positive emotions in times of crisis. Indeed, the memes were articulated as the antidote (love) that can defy the brutality and hatred of terrorists. This article challenges this view in two ways. First, the article argues that the visual interventions constitute technologies of emotional governance that police subjects about whom to love, to whom solidarity should be extended and when and where those feelings should be displayed. Second, drawing on the work of Gilles Deleuze on Francis Bacon, this article demonstrates that by propagating iconic representations of solidarity, peace and love, ‘meming’ attends to the logic of the sensational and the cliché and thereby falls short of contesting terrorism through sensing peace, love and solidarity. Finally, the article addresses how the violence of sensation can release the invisible forces that can be made productive in celebrating life.

Martha Bragin, Bree Akesson, Mariam Ahmady, Sediqa Akbari, Bezhan Ayubi, Raihana Faqiri, Zekrullah Faiq, Spozhmay Oriya, Rohina Zaffari, Mohammad Hadi Rasooli, B. Azizi, Fareshteh Barakzai, Yasamin Haidary, Sediqa Jawadi, Hannah L. Wolfson, S. Ahmadi, B. Karimi, S. Sediqi

While there have been many studies that elucidate the extent of human suffering in Afghanistan, there has been no formal study of what it means to be psychologically and socially well. This article reports on a participatory phenomenological study conducted in Afghanistan designed to better understand psychosocial well-being. Collecting data from 440 Afghan participants in 56 focus group discussions, the research specifically elaborated and operationalized definitions of psychosocial well-being that were relevant to the Afghan context. This study adds critical value around definitions of what it means to be psychosocially well in Afghanistan and other conflict-affected countries.

Sendi Fauzi Giwangsa, Bunyamin Maftuh, Mamat Supriatna, I. Ilfiandra

The persistence of both physical and verbal violence in schools serves as the driving force for this study. Additionally, the teacher's efforts have not been the best in helping the elementary school pupils cultivate a spirit of harmony and nationalism. This study evaluates efforts to instill a love of peace in primary school kids. Utilizing a qualitative approach, this investigation. Interviews, questionnaires, and observational instructions were the instruments employed. According to the research's findings, activities in the classroom, extracurricular activities, and school culture all contribute to developing a peace-loving character in primary school pupils. Classroom activities include incorporating peace-loving values into studies through teaching and learning activities. Extracurricular activities such as scouting, choirs, and martial arts help build peace-loving character development outside the classroom. The developed school culture comprises example behavior from all school stakeholders, habituation, spontaneous activities, and conditioning. AbstrakPenelitian ini dilatarbelakangi oleh masih banyak ditemukannya kasus kekerasan di sekolah, baik itu kekerasan fisik atau verbal. Selain itu belum optimalnya upaya guru dalam mengembangkan karakter cinta damai dan nasionalisme bagi siswa sekolah dasar. Tujuan dari penelitian ini yaitu menganalisis upaya mengimplemntasikan karakter cinta damai bagi siswa sekolah dasar. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif. Instrumen yang digunakan yaitu kuisioner, pedoman observasi dan wawancara. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa upaya pengembangan karakter cinta damai bagi siswa sekolah dasar dilakukan melalui kegiatan di dalam kelas melalui pembelajaran, kegiatan di luar kelas, serta budaya sekolah. Kegiatan di dalam kelas dilakukan melalui mengintegrasikan nilai-nilai cinta damai dalam mata pelajaran melalui kegiatan belajar mengajar. Pengembangan karakter cinta damai melalui kegiatan diluar kelas dilaksanakan melalui berbagi kegiatan ekstrakulikuler seperti pramuka, paduan suara serta pencak silat. Adapun budaya sekolah yang dilakukan untuk mengembangkan budaya sekolah diantaranya yaitu keteladanan dari seluruh stakeholder sekolah, pembiasaan, kegiatan spontan dan pengkondisian.Kata Kunci: Karakter cinta damai; pendidikan cinta damai; siswa sekolah dasar