ABSTRACT
Hope and critical thinking should be considered complimentary and inseparable, but in some ways, they seem paradoxically to represent polarities. In conventional understanding, teacher goal of critical thinking is to produce learners who question, evaluate and challenge set assumptions and ideas, which would logically fit closely with the intended outcomes of Peace and Justice Studies curricula. In contrast, hope, as a pedagogical concept, is rarely manifested in concrete ways in Peace and Justice Studies, such as course outcomes or departmental planning day agendas. For conflicts ranging from the interpersonal to the international, critical analysis of dangerous and ill-informed ideologies are afforded more hope when we view them as banal rather than evil. The students can then see that the hope-filled story from Liberia corroborates with the empirical evidence, thus propelling their hope forward to include a critical analysis of the empirical evidence on the effectiveness of nonviolent action.
