CISV – peace education in a can? : Allport’s idea implemented in an educational context

Abstract

This thesis looks at CISV, a peace education organization that works with children and youth, teaching multi-cultural understanding by gathering children and youth at international camps, in order to demount inter-group stereotypes and prevent prejudice. The underlying idea behind CISV is simple. "You wouldn't go to war against your own friends". From a theoretical point of view, CISV is founded on the positive contact hypothesis by Gordon Allport. My question is then: How does CISV work to meet the conditions required for positive contact to reduce prejudice and racism, and does it succeed?

I did my fieldwork in a CISV program called Village, a short-term peace education program designed for 11 year old children to make “global friendship”. The CISV Village was hosted by a local chapter of CISV Norway, where I was a member of the staff. My staff role gave me the chance to plan and prepare for the village, and a chance to see CISV as an insider and as an outsider, or as my main method of research was, as a participant observer.

My previous involvement in CISV was what gave me the chance to be a staff at a village, to sit on the board of CISV Troms and to get involved in CISV Norway as a national organization. This gave me background information. However, a fieldwork during a camp in 2009 gave me the additional information I needed to answer my questions.