The EICU centre and its relationship with Peace (an educational project in the sixties)

Abstract

This article presents a study of a college for university students founded by Javier Galindo in 1960s Granada.

It begins with an introduction and the historical context to avoid the historical anachronism. There is an explanation of the methodology used, which is not only analytical but also general, with the idea of showing the comprehensive historical environment given that the formal history of a determined fact is completed and enriched by other nuances –economic, social and cultural, among others– that accompany it. Furthermore, a chapter is dedicated to the biography of the founder and the motives which led him to undertake such an enterprise. An account is then given of the consolidation of the project, and the organisation and students of the college and underline the ideological connections with the European humanist tradition and with progressive education are highlighted, demonstrating that it was a centre that dared to offer an education different to the type that predominated in the society in conflict in. Finally, the discourse develops from the vision of Peace.

The founder’s vision, based on his knowledge and experience, took integral education as its reference point although there was no recognised common theoretical field for the investigation of each of the multiple spaces and areas that pursued peace. Both the educational and the axiological and social values on which the ideology was based were of universal nature. They concerned the securing of peace and boasted of the individual, social and public capacity to change the situation.

Thus, it may be concluded that the pedagogy and organisation of this centre ‘came very close to the pedagogical movements which from the 1950s addressed a more democratic type of education and training and, it is thought, provided the first steps in Peace Research,’ as can be deduced from the studies made by Francisco Muñoz in La paz imperfecta ante un universe en conflicto (Imperfect peace faced with a universe in conflict).