“And in the end no one is winning”: the mobilization of historical knowledge in the resolution of conflict situations. Ideas of young Portuguese about peace and war

Abstract

This study was designed to seek the thoughts and ideas of young Portuguese about the concepts of peace and war. We present the findings  of  an  empirical  study  of  a  descriptive, essentially qualitative, the sample consisted  of  38  young  people  aged  between 14  and  17  years  who  were  attending  the  final year of compulsory education (9. º year). By  applying  a  set  of  open  questions  aim  to be understanding if they mobilize historical knowledge to find explanations for conflict situations  or  to  examine  the  consequences of  a  war.

The  data  analysis  provided  us  with  indicators  that  suggest  that  these  young  people lead  metahistoric  concepts  as  causality  and change, when they think the idea of war. Another  idea  that  emerged  frequently  was the  need  for  justification  for  the  conflict.