Mapping Our Dreams and Rooting our Futures: Possibility Trees as Essential Pedagogy and Praxis in Peace, Social Justice, and Human Rights Education

In this article, we explore a pedagogical and conceptual tool we have refined and developed for the fields of peace, social justice, and human rights education: “the possibility tree.” Initially introduced in our 2021 book, we explore this tool in more depth in this article to show how such pedagogical and conceptual processes are key components of peace and human rights education praxis with greater implications for both research and teaching. Our aim is to provide an applied praxis-oriented framework for educators, practitioners, re-searchers, and theorists that are concerned with larger issues of peace, justice, and human rights. While we do not delve into the distinct theoretical concepts and genealogies (and their intersections) of peace and human rights education in this article, we use this opportunity to expand upon the importance of pedagogical and conceptual practices and their applicability, as these integral processes have ultimately remained underexplored in scholarship. To illustrate the potential, we also discuss how the concept of the “possibility tree” has been used by scholars and practitioners since the book’s publication in 2021. We posit that tools such as the possibility tree are necessary interventions, especially as pedagogies and practices of peace and human rights education are often sidelined in broader discussions that privilege theoretical framings over implications for pedagogy and praxis .