ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author argues that community organizing is a particularly useful opportunity for Peace Studies students to engage in critical service-learning. Many Peace Studies programs have made service-learning a central element of their curriculum. Service learning, done well, is an important part of a Peace and Justice Studies curriculum. Each service-learning experience falls somewhere on a spectrum between prioritizing the needs of the community or the educational experience of the students; critical service-learning prioritizes the articulated needs of the community, aiming for a mutually beneficial relationship. Through organizing, and structured reflection on their experiences, students develop their ability to critically examine a situation, their empathy for and solidarity with people unlike themselves, an understanding of their own agency and that of other people, and the ability to invent and implement strategies for challenging power structures. Some might argue that doing a community organizing project as a class is only workable if the instructor has community organizing experience.