Educare alla pace, educare ai saperi: decolonizzare la mente per riabitare la terra

Peace education can be understood as a process of recognizing, legitimizing, and valuing the plurality of forms of knowledge, with the aim of overcoming Western epistemological hegemony. In this perspective, ecopedagogy (Gutiérrez & Prado, 2000) offers an educational approach that questions the dominant Western ways of conceiving the universe, the human being, and the relationship with the Earth. The contribution of other cultural worldviews is therefore crucial, as they preserve ecologically rooted knowledge developed through long processes of interaction with local natural environments. Particular attention should be given to Indigenous Knowledge (IK) (Ford et al., 2016), which represents an important epistemic resource for promoting a truly planetary plurality of knowledge. Often excluded from dominant scientific paradigms, these forms of knowledge offer valuable perspectives for addressing today’s challenges, especially ecological transition and climate change (Malavasi, 2020). Environmental issues cannot be understood only as local phenomena; they require integrated and transdisciplinary approaches capable of including marginalized epistemologies. This raises key educational questions: how can such knowledge be integrated into peace education? How can authentic epistemic openness be fostered? One possible path lies in Freire’s concept of conscientização (1968), understood as a process of critical awareness that enables new forms of action and transformation. Narrative educational approaches, through myths, stories, and cosmovisions, can also create spaces for exploring alternative worldviews, encouraging empathy, reflexivity, and critical thinking (Gramigna, 2022).