Studying peacebuilding and nonviolence: the ethos and experience of the International Centre of Nonviolence, South Africa

Abstract The International Centre for Nonviolence at Durban University of Technology is a major player in the study of peacebuilding and nonviolence in Africa. ICON’s overall aim is to help African communities achieve sustained peace, which means that its teaching, research and community engagement are transformational in their methods and outcomes, with an immediate impact on the lives of those involved. In practice, this means the use of transformative learning processes in our undergraduate teaching and participatory action research in the research theses which we supervise at master’s and doctoral level. This chapter explains the theory, experience and challenges of transformative learning and participatory action research. It then reflects on the effects which these approaches have had on our students and the contributions which they have made to the building of sustained peace across the continent.