Challenging Tanzania’s peaceocracy ? Young people’s considerations of and for themselves as generational ‘waymakers’ of peace education in the Arusha region

This article presents and discusses Tanzanian young people’s everyday views on peace, and their visions on how to improve their outlook through their own agency. Their conceptualisations stand in contrast to the state’s prioritisation of political stability and order, a phenomenon called ‘peaceocracy’. Establishing young people’s views, the article proceeds to formulate crucial considerations in planning and implementing youth-led non-formal peace education activities in Tanzania’s Arusha region. Through an appreciative research methodology with 57 young people split into 7 focus groups, we arrive at findings indicating that young people back themselves as instigators of non-formal peace education activities in their communities or social settings, acting as a bridge between the local and the international, and being outwards-looking, but simultaneously conscious of the relevance of traditional ways. The article’s further discussion also contributes understanding of some challenges to decolonising efforts of peace education, centred around the authors’ reflections on their own positionalities.