Understanding War, Visualizing Peace: Children Draw What They Know

Supporting Young Children’s Efforts toward Peacemaking: Recommendations for Early Childhood Educators

“…Young children are encouraged by their parents and caretakers to engage in prosocial behaviors, such as being helpful and friendly (Bergin et al 1995). Consequently, this is a common theme associated with peace and peacemaking reported by multiple researchers (Covell et al 1994;Hakvoort 1996;Hakvoort and Hagglund 2001;Myers-Bowman et al 2005;Walker et al 2003).…”

“…Romania, 5-6 years, peace only Cretu (1988) Sweden and The Netherlands, 7-17 years, peace and war Hakvoort and Hagglund (2001) The Netherlands, 8-16 years, peace and war Hakvoort and Oppenheimer (1993) US and Yugoslavia, 3-12 years, peace and war Myers-Bowman et al (2005) US, 3-12 years, peace and war Walker et al (2003) differently. They suggested interpersonal, prosocial behaviors (i.e., making friends) as a way to make peace when asked the more personal question.…”

“…Findings that have emerged regarding children's general understanding of peace and war show some similarities across studies, despite children's cultural differences and differences in exposure to political violence. For example, many children understand war in terms of its concrete details-the objects and activities of war (e.g., military weapons and fighting or killing) and peace as the absence of war or violence (Hakvoort and Oppenheimer 1993;Hakvoort and Hagglund 2001;McLernon and Cairns 2001;Myers-Bowman et al 2005;Oppenheimer and Kuipers 2003;Souza et al 2006;Walker et al 2003) or as the presence of prosocial behaviors such as being nice or sharing (Covell et al 1994;Hakvoort and Hagglund 2001;Myers-Bowman et al 2005;Walker et al 2003).…”

“…One approach is to ask them. As part of a larger study of American children's understanding of war and peace reported elsewhere (Myers-Bowman et al 2005;Walker et al 2003), we also asked 32 young children, ages 3-8, ''Do you think kids can do anything to make peace?'' Exactly half of them suggested that children could do something to make peace, and when they elaborated on what children could do to make peace, their responses fell into two categories: (1) prosocial behaviors and (2) activism.…”

Visualizing Peace – The State of the Art

“…While the peace drawings of children can be considered a mere reflection of a dominant visual culture of war, it is important to realize that these first steps of visualizing the world also have a socializing effect and are constitutive of a dominant imagery of politics at a very young age. 35 While the study of representations of war and peace in movies has become a cherished topic in Critical International Relations, the focus has predominantly been on the visualization of conflict, violence, and war rather than peace. 36 In the wake of the so-called aesthetic turn, 37 these studies refocus on the gaps between representation and the represented, as these gaps are always the product of power relations.…”