The use of emotional intelligence in peace-building has grown significantly during the past few years. Many projects across the world include some form of art activity to help victims of conflict, both individually and together across conflicting parties, in shaping a political process which enables a more profound understanding of each other with the aim of reconciliation and building a future where the break-down of societies into violence are less likely to occur. This led me to consider how the use of paintings/drawings, done by the victims or witnesses of conflict such as war, genocide and ethnic cleansing, could contribute to the learning experience of students undertaking an elective module on the Philosophy of Religion which addressed the issues of God, evil and suffering. The findings presented here are the result of a qualitative study I undertook with undergraduate students on this elective module over a period of three years.
BeardC.WilsonJ. P. (2005), ‘Ingredients for Effective Learning: The Learning Combination Lock’, in HartleyP.WoodsA.PillM. (eds), Enhancing Teaching in Higher Education: New Approaches for Improving Student Learning, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 3–15.
2.
BellerS. D. (2009), Sowing Art Reaping Peace: Toward a Framework for Evaluating Arts-Based Peace Building, Unpublished MA thesis, American University.
3.
BuchananT. (2007), ‘Retrieval of Emotional Memories’, Psychological Bulletin, 133(5), pp. 761–79.
4.
CahillL.PrinsB.WeberM. (1994), ‘β-Adrenergic Activation and Memory for Emotional Events’, Nature, 371, pp. 702–4.
5.
DamassioA. (2000), ‘A Second Chance for Emotion’, in LaneR. D.NadelL. (eds), Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 12–23.
6.
FredericksonB. L. (1998), ‘What Good are Positive Emotions?’, Review of General Psychology, 2, pp. 300–19.
7.
FredericksonB. L. (2001), ‘The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions’, American Psychologist, 56, pp. 647–54.
8.
IsenA. M. (2000), ‘Positive Affect and Decision Making’, in LewisM.Haviland-JonesJ. M. (eds), Psychological and Biological Approaches to Emotion, (2nd edn), New York: Guildford Press, pp. 417–35.
9.
JensenE. (2008), Brain-based Learning: The New Paradigm of Teaching, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
10.
KalmanowitzD.LloydB. (2005), Art Therapy and Political Violence: With Art, Without Illusion, Hove, East Sussex, Routledge.
11.
KreitlerH.KreitlerS. (1972), Mental Models: Towards a Cognitive Science of Language, Inference and Consciousness, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
12.
La BarK. S.CabezaR. (2006), ‘Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotional Memory’, Nature/Reviews/Neuroscience, 7 (1), pp. 54–64.
13.
Le BaronM.WelchD. (2005), Arts, Creativity and Intercultural Conflict Resolution: Literature and Resource Review, Vancouver: Conflict Resolution, Arts, and Intercultural Experience Publishing.
14.
Le DouxJ. E. (1995), ‘Emotion: Clues from the Brain’, Annual Review of Psychology, 46, pp. 209–35.
15.
LopesP. N.SaloveyP. (2004), ‘Toward a Broader Education: Social, Emotional and Practical Skills’, in ZinsJ. E., (ed.) Building School Success on Social and Emotional Learning, New York: Teachers College Press Columbia University, pp. 76–93.
16.
MarcuseH. (1979), The Aesthetic Dimension: Toward a Critique of Marxist Aesthetics, London: MacMillan Education.
17.
MarcuseH. (2007), Art and Liberation, London: Routledge.
18.
MortiboysA. (2002), The Emotionally Intelligent Lecturer, SEDA, 12.
19.
NiasJ. (1996), ‘Thinking about Feelings: The Emotions in Teaching’, Cambridge Journal of Education, 26 (3), pp. 293–306.
20.
QualterP.GardnerK. J.WhiteleyH. E. (2007), ‘Emotional Intelligence: Review of Research and Educational Implications’, Pastoral Care in Education, 25 (11), pp. 11–20.
21.
QuevedoJ.Sant AnnaM. K.MadrugaM.LovatoI.de-ParisF.KapczinskiF.IzquierdoI.CahillL. (2003), ‘Differential Effects of Emotional Arousal in Short and Long Term Memory in Healthy Adults’, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 79 (2), pp. 132–5.
22.
SontagS. (2003), Regarding the Pain of Others, London: Penguin Books.
23.
StoneK. (2003), Image and Spirit: Finding Meaning in Visual Art, London: Longman & Todd.
24.
SwayR. A.NashashibiR.SalahR.ShweikiR. (2005), ‘Expressive Arts Therapy – Healing the Traumatized: The Palestinian Experience’, in KalamanowitzD.LloydB. (eds), Art Therapy and Political Violence: With Art without Illusion, London & New York: Routledge, pp. 28–39.
25.
VandervoortD. J. (2006), ‘The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Higher Education’, Current Psychology, 25 (1), pp. 3–7.
26.
WiseS. (2005), ‘A Time for Healing: Art Therapy for Children, post September 11, New York’, in KalamanowitzD.LloydB. (eds), Art Therapy and Political Violence: With Art without Illusion, London & New York: Routledge, pp. 142–53.
27.
WoolfeP. (2001), Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Practice, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
28.
ZullJ. E. (2002), The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning, Sterling, VA: Stylus.
