Introduction - can we empathize with the narrative of our enemy? a personal odyssey in studying peace education

The reader is taken on a journey spanning some 30 years devoted to
the author’s involvement in practicing, teaching, and studying
peace education. The core concept in this journey is active
bystandership, which is the capacity to disengage from our
ethnocentric narratives and perceptions, face the emotional challenges
of acknowledging narratives that contradict our collective assumptions
about the conflict, and accept the moral obligation to address our
contribution to violence. The author describes her personal activity
as well as her professional activity in academia - participating,
initiating, teaching, and facilitating peace education projects. She
describes inter- and intragroup encounters and attempts to identify
the limitations and opportunities of each type. Finally, some
research methods and results of recent studies in peace education,
especially regarding perceptions of collective narratives, are
presented and discussed.