JEiE Behind the Pages

In this episode, Cirenia Chavez Villegas and Elena Butti unpack the connection between educational attainment and criminal engagement for youth in two hotspots of the war on drugs. In their research article, "'If you don't have an education, you are no one': Understanding the School Experiences of Youth Involved in Drug-Related Crime in Ciudad Juarez and Medellin," Chavez Villegas and Butti suggest that these youth do not drop out of school in search of money or reputation, rather they are pushed out by a cycle of stigma, segregation, punishment, and exclusion. Behind the Pages, the podcast of the Journal on Education in Emergencies (JEiE), features exciting and timely conversations with JEiE authors about their work on education in regions affected by crisis and conflict.

In this episode, Roozbeh Shirazi unpacks the definitions of humanitarian crisis and emergency as used in the education in emergencies field, and how the war on drugs calls these definitions into question. In his research article, "When Emergency Becomes Everyday Life: Revisiting a Central EiE Concept in the Context of the War on Drugs," Shirazi compares two portrayals of the war on drugs in popular media to evaluate the role of language and power in framing possible humanitarian responses to emergency. Behind the Pages, the podcast of the Journal on Education in Emergencies (JEiE), features exciting and timely conversations with JEiE authors about their work on education in regions affected by crisis and conflict.

In this episode, Sara Koenders examines the dynamics between police and drug organizations in Vila Cruzeiro in Rio de Janeiro and their influence on education. In her research article, "'Pedagogy of Conversion' in the Urban Margins: Pacification, Education, and the Struggle for Control in a Rio de Janeiro Favela," Koenders examines how Rio's Pacifying Police Units militarized education in the poorest communities and perpetuated violence and insecurity. Behind the Pages, the podcast of the Journal on Education in Emergencies (JEiE), features exciting and timely conversations with JEiE authors about their work on education in regions affected by crisis and conflict.

In this episode, Diana Rodríguez-Gómez and María José Bermeo outline how three decades of education research have framed the intersection of schooling and the war on drugs. In their research article "The Educational Nexus to the War on Drugs: A Systematic Review," Rodríguez-Gómez and Bermeo argue that the literature has focused narrowly on student drug use and prevention and largely denied the multiple actors, timelines, and locations, including education institutions, that comprise the war on drugs. Behind the Pages, the podcast of the Journal on Education in Emergencies (JEiE), features exciting and timely conversations with JEiE authors about their work on education in regions affected by crisis and conflict.

On this bonus episode of Behind the Pages, we speak with JEiE editors Sweta Shah and Ragnhild Dybdahl, who are leading the development of two special thematic issues that will be published in 2021. Sweta Shah is editing our Special Issue on Early Childhood Development in Emergencies with Joan Lombardi, and Ragnhild Dybdahl is editing our Special Issue on Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning in Emergencies with James Williams. We discuss the gaps in our current understanding of these themes, the vision for these issues, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the need to support the world's most vulnerable learners. This bonus episode of Behind the Pages was generously supported by Porticus.

Behind the Pages, the podcast of the Journal on Education in Emergencies, features exciting and timely conversations with JEiE authors about their work on education in regions affected by crisis and conflict. In this episode, Jihae Cha explores the factors that contribute to refugee students' persistence in education and suggests ways that teachers can create welcoming learning environments to foster this motivation. Her article, "Refugee Students' Academic Motivation in Displacement: The Case of Kakuma Refugee Camp," shows that while students living in Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp experience significant obstacles to their academic attainment, education spaces that support their sense of belonging can contribute to their success.

Behind the Pages, the podcast of the Journal on Education in Emergencies, features exciting and timely conversations with JEiE authors about their work on education in regions affected by crisis and conflict. In this episode, Sarah Horsch Carsley and Garnett Russell discuss how political will, the availability of resources in refugee-receiving countries, and weak formal enforcement mechanisms create a gap between the spirit of the three international treaties that guarantee refugees' legal right to education and refugees' actual access to school. In their article "Exploring the Enforceability of Refugees' Right to Education: A Comparative Analysis of Human Rights Treaties," Horsch Carsley and Russell find that treaties that focus on cultural, economic, and social rights, including the right to education, are less enforceable overall than treaties that secure political and civil rights.

Behind the Pages, the podcast of the Journal on Education in Emergencies, features exciting and timely conversations with JEiE authors about their work on education in regions affected by crisis and conflict. In this episode, Tejendra Pherali explores how teachers of Syrian refugees in Lebanon reflect on ideal education spaces and practices and the role of teacher professional development in creating these imagined futures. In their article "Educators for Change: Supporting the Transformative Role of Teachers in Contexts of Mass Displacement," Pherali and co-authors Mai Abu Moghli and Elaine Chase show that while teachers create networks of practice worldwide, professional support systems are especially important for teachers who work in under-resourced environments and strained education systems.

Behind the Pages, the podcast of the Journal on Education in Emergencies, features exciting and timely conversations with JEiE authors about their work on education in regions affected by crisis and conflict. The Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya is one of the largest and oldest refugee camps in the world, with refugees coming from at least nine nearby countries. In this episode, Benjamin Piper and Sarah Dryden-Peterson discuss the factors that influence early grade reading and suggest that focusing on education quality is important for improving literacy outcomes. In their article "Are Refugee Children Learning? Early Grade Literacy in a Refugee Camp in Kenya," Piper, Dryden-Peterson, and co-authors Vidur Chopra, Celia Reddick, and Arbogast Oyanga show that for students in Grades 1 through 3 in Kakuma refugee camp, learning to read is related, in part, to their country of origin, mother tongue, and expectations for returning to their home country.