Breathing ─ Violence In, Peace Out

An investigation into the long-term impact of transgenerational trauma and the possibilities for healing, this book explores the links between personal histories and world events and helps us to understand life’s dualities: violence and peace, self and other, stability and change, slavery and freedom. Author Ivana Milojevic asks How does violence change us? Is it possible to change the inner landscape of one’s thinking in the midst of pain and suffering? and If this is our past, how might our future be different? Oscillating between two voices, Milojevic journeys between the personal (“breathing in”), which describes her experience of violence; while the second academic voice (“breathing out”) tries to make sense of it. The rhythm created by inhaling and exhaling reflects not only what we take from the world but also what we give back to it. Breathing is an inquiry into alternative futures as Milojevic explores a range of possibilities, both for each of us personally, and for the world.

Ivana Milojevic is a researcher and writer with an extensive background in sociology, gender, peace, and future studies. She coordinates peace studies at University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, and is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books, including Alternative Futures of Education: Dominant and Contesting Visions, The Futures of Education: Pedagogies for an Emergent World, Moving Forward: Teachers and Students Against Racism, and Neohumanist Educational Futures: Liberating the Pedagogical Intellect.